I am probably going to open a whole new can worms here. I might regret opening later, but some of the topics being discussed really got me thinking about things. One of the things said that really kind of got me going on this was:

Pattygreen: Christians (usually conservative republicans) for the most part try to live moral, virtuous, nonsinful lives.

I am not a Christian and I live a moral, virtuous, and for the most part nonsinful life. I know several people who live the same, and are not Christian, and have conservative beliefs.

Cleo's Mom: First of all, "conservative republican" is redundant, because they are all conservative. I don't think there are any moderate republicans left particularly among those elected to office.

However, I just wonder if it is MORAL to mislead or outright lie, because listen to what these conservative republicans have said:

Dana Perino said on Fox: We did not have a domestic attack during bush's administration.

A month later Mary Matalin said: bush inherited 9/11 from Clinton.

Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani said that we never had a domestic attack under bush but we had one under Obama.

Now, I ask you - do these people think the American public is really that stupid? Apparently. Those on the right just make things up and keep repeating it. And when they repeat it often enough eventually some people begin to believe it.

They reduce things to some emotional, hate filled sound bite: death panels, obamacare, socialism, hitler, nazi.

This is because they are unable to engage in meaningful, intelligent, fact-based discussions. Maybe they don't want to do that because they don't have the facts on their side.

First I am a moderate Republican. I do tend to lean a little more to the right, but on some issues I lean to the left. Some things I can lean pretty right, and others I lean pretty far left. It really depends on the issue. I'd like to think that would make me moderate. I know many people who are moderate Republicans also. So we are still out there. There are some politicians who are still moderate also.

Second just because you are a Republican does not mean that you can not have a intelligent, meaningful, fact-based conversation. That is like saying liberals have their heads in clouds and live in fantasy nerf world filled with rainbows and butterflies.

Both sides sling mud back and forth. Both sides have their hate filled idiots. Both sides have their good and bad points. Both sides LIE, LIE, and LIE some more.

I get so sick and tired of hearing about how the Republicans have screwed everything up...I mean really they did it all alone.....no help from the left at all???

I personally feel that if you lean too far left or right you can't have a very grip on reality, and when our politicans lean too far left or right it's not good for our country either way. I hope someday too see more moderate politicans in office.

Originally Posted by Cleo's Mom

Teachers pay into their pension/retirement funds with their money too.

Yeah, the money that the rest of us gave them to do their job. You didn't "give" them anything. They earned it. How elitist of you. And by that standard, I give you your money at the nursing home, much of which comes from federal taxes for medicare & medicaid.

You have such a superior attitude over other people, their plights, their professions, and how you live your life. You think you are so independent - you don't need or want any government help. That is such an immature position and very far from the truth.

No it isn't. Why do you find it so hard to believe that there are people out there who actually desire to fend for themselves? When you do it yourself and work hard to get ahead, there comes a sence of pride, a sense of wellness. There is a big difference in the way a person feels about their car when they worked and saved to pay for it themselves over when they received it as a gift from mom and dad. There is a sense of accomplishment and joy when you are independent. And this comes from being independent of the government as well.

You are not independent of the government. From the first lightswitch you turn on, to the clean water that comes out of your faucet, to the food you eat, the medication you take, the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the highways you drive on, the safety at your workplace to the wages you receive, those are all affected by the government that you love to bash and from whom you think you are so independent. So immature.

Education does not just take place between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. There needs to be some reinforcement at home. Kids forget so quickly. Plus it gives the parents (the ones who are interested) a chance to see what the child is doing. There were not enough hours in the school day for me to cover everything. The children needed time at home to learn spelling words or practice new reading words. Or research for a report or a science project, etc.. And the list goes on but I would be wasting my time telling a know it all like you.

You work a 40 hour week at your job and when you go home, is there someone there piling on more work for you to do? No. You get to spend time with your family, relax, eat together, have some fun. It's your time off. Children deserve that as well. What makes you think that children need to work at educational things for more hours in a day than you work at your job? Kids may forget so easy, as you say, but not overnight. Get real! You would be wasting my time telling me about how much you couldn't cover with your students in 7 hours each day! You must have been a terrible teacher.

Trust a born again conservative to confuse discipline with corporal punishment (spanking). There is a recent study that shows spanking kids causes aggression when they get to be about 5-6. A good disciplinarian doesn't need to resort to physical punishment for it to be effective.

Who am I to believe: God or YOU and your studies? Let me think... God! Yup. God. He made us and I think he knows the right way to discipline children. Ever notice how incorigible, disrespectful and crazy kids have become since the Dr. Spock books came out? Teachers can't even handle them anymore. Times have changed as far as kids attitudes and respect for others ever since the government took away a parents right to spank their children. (for the record, I do not advocate beating children in any way, shape or form, I believe in disciplineing with love and respect.) Spanking a child when he is fresh is a good thing. You use that form of discipline when they are toddlers and youngsters and you will never have to spank them for anything when they are preteens or older.

Are the 30 patients under your constant visual supervision for your entire shift?

yes, they are.

You are NOT independent from the government. It touches your life in every way every day. If it didn't you'd be living in a cave, but in a symbolic way you already are.

The only way the government touches my life is in the areas that I had NO CHOICE for it to be there in.

Education does not just take place between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. There needs to be some reinforcement at home. Kids forget so quickly. Plus it gives the parents (the ones who are interested) a chance to see what the child is doing. There were not enough hours in the school day for me to cover everything. The children needed time at home to learn spelling words or practice new reading words. Or research for a report or a science project, etc.. And the list goes on but I would be wasting my time telling a know it all like you.

You work a 40 hour week at your job and when you go home, is there someone there piling on more work for you to do? No. You get to spend time with your family, relax, eat together, have some fun. It's your time off. Children deserve that as well. What makes you think that children need to work at educational things for more hours in a day than you work at your job? Kids may forget so easy, as you say, but not overnight. Get real! You would be wasting my time telling me about how much you couldn't cover with your students in 7 hours each day! You must have been a terrible teacher.

How dare you say I must have been a terrible teacher. You know nothing about me or my teaching. I was a very good teacher. I taught 2nd grade. One of the teachers in the grade below me told me she would give me her gifted students because she knew I did a lot of enrichment activities.

I had excellent classroom management and got through all the curriculum in the year's time. I had the students for 5.5 hours. They had 1/2 hour for lunch, 1/2 hour at a special (art, music, etc..) each day. So the students were there for 6.5 hours a day. Plus there were times for assemblies maybe once or twice a month.

I had to cover 7 subjects in that 5.5 hours of time. Reading, math, spelling, handwriting, English, Social Studies, and Science. Reading was to be for 2 hours/day and math for 1 hour. That left 2.5 hours for the other 5 subjects. These are mandated times, not mine. Most of the work they needed to reinforce at home was reading vocabulary, math, spelling words, and some English writing. I sometimes assigned projects like dioramas or small reports.

My job DID require more work when I got home. I had 1/2 hour a day for planning for 7 subjects so I did a lot at home as well as grading papers and researching for enrichment activities to reinforce the learning concepts.

The parents that complained about homework were the lazy ones that didn't want to help with anything.

You know what I think? I think you're a terrible person and a lousy christian and I feel sorry for any patient at the nursing home that you come into contact with.

yes, they are.

So you have all 30 patients in one room at all times? Wow. Sounds like a terrible nursing home. No wonder they hired you.

Trust a born again conservative to confuse discipline with corporal punishment (spanking). There is a recent study that shows spanking kids causes aggression when they get to be about 5-6. A good disciplinarian doesn't need to resort to physical punishment for it to be effective.

Who am I to believe: God or YOU and your studies? Let me think... God! Yup. God. He made us and I think he knows the right way to discipline children. Ever notice how incorigible, disrespectful and crazy kids have become since the Dr. Spock books came out? Teachers can't even handle them anymore. Times have changed as far as kids attitudes and respect for others ever since the government took away a parents right to spank their children. (for the record, I do not advocate beating children in any way, shape or form, I believe in disciplineing with love and respect.) Spanking a child when he is fresh is a good thing. You use that form of discipline when they are toddlers and youngsters and you will never have to spank them for anything when they are preteens or older.

God does not say to spank your children. And don't quote that spare the rod crap. I have read many interpretations that that is NOT what it means.

I have hosted 3 exchange students, one from Poland, one from Norway and one from Holland. They could not believe how easy our education system was, specifically homework. Of course you can look at the USA's standings the worldwide ranking of math and science knowledge and see what no homework gets you.

Spanking toddlers leads to aggressive behavior

When it comes to disciplining toddlers, spanking doesn't work and it can even make them more aggressive later on, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics.

Researchers at Tulane University studied about 2,500 3-year-olds and found that children whose mothers spanked them more than twice in a month were more likely to show higher levels of aggression by the time they turned 5. Researchers said they controlled for the child's initial aggression levels and issues that increase the risk that a child will act aggressively, such as a mother's depression, substance abuse and intimate partner violence.

The study underscores similar findings in other research and is in line with a long held position by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends against corporal punishment. Instead, the group advises parents to consider "time outs" and withholding privileges as more effective ways to discipline a child.

Just another research study for you to ignore. Probably done by some liberal, commie, socialist, gay group who supports government handouts and people marrying pets.

You put sooo much faith in mankinds studies and philosophies. This is why I have determined that MAN is your God.

I have done my own study. I raised 10 children and ocassionally one of them would get a spanking if they needed it. NONE of them are aggressive now as adults.

I have hosted 3 exchange students, one from Poland, one from Norway and one from Holland. They could not believe how easy our education system was, specifically homework. Of course you can look at the USA's standings the worldwide ranking of math and science knowledge and see what no homework gets you.

Exactly. Because we have lazy students who have lazy parents.

You put sooo much faith in mankinds studies and philosophies. This is why I have determined that MAN is your God.

I have done my own study. I raised 10 children and ocassionally one of them would get a spanking if they needed it. NONE of them are aggressive now as adults.

I am an intelligent, educated person. I can research things and make up my mind. Man is not my God, but my God gave me a brain to use, and a free will in which to use it.

If you choose to believe that your God will provide everything for you and solve all your problems, and do all your thinking for you, that is your perogative.

But don't try to insult me because I am a smart, educated, well-spoken person who bests you all the time on these boards.

How dare you say I must have been a terrible teacher.

I dare the same way you do when you call me stupid, smug, neocon, superior attitude, immature, liar, symboliclly living in a cave, hypocrite, etc. and that's just in the last 3 or 4 pages past. I dare because any teacher that can't cover all the work she desires for her students to do in a days time while she is supposed to be teaching them, is a terrible teacher. She gets paid to teach them, not the parents. If they wanted to teach their kids the material, they would home school them, like I do.

You know nothing about me or my teaching. I was a very good teacher. I taught 2nd grade. One of the teachers in the grade below me told me she would give me her gifted students because she knew I did a lot of enrichment activities. Brag, brag, brag, (yawn)

I had excellent classroom management and got through all the curriculum in the year's time. I had the students for 5.5 hours. They had 1/2 hour for lunch, 1/2 hour at a special (art, music, etc..) each day. So the students were there for 6.5 hours a day. Plus there were times for assemblies maybe once or twice a month.

I had to cover 7 subjects in that 5.5 hours of time. Reading, math, spelling, handwriting, English, Social Studies, and Science. Reading was to be for 2 hours/day and math for 1 hour. That left 2.5 hours for the other 5 subjects. These are mandated times, not mine. Most of the work they needed to reinforce at home was reading vocabulary, math, spelling words, and some English writing. I sometimes assigned projects like dioramas or small reports.

Stop bragging! You were getting PAID to do what you were doing. Big deal. Everybody works alot at their specific jobs. You're no better than the next guy, just doing what you were supposed to be doing and getting a paycheck for it.

My job DID require more work when I got home. I had 1/2 hour a day for planning for 7 subjects so I did a lot at home as well as grading papers and researching for enrichment activities to reinforce the learning concepts.

Yeah, your job required you to put in an 8 or 9 hour day, just like everybody else. 61/2 or 7 hours at the school and 1 or maybe 2 hours at home. You were compensated with a salary. So, if you did some work at home, you were paid for it. Do the kids get paid for doing additional work at home? No.

The parents that complained about homework were the lazy ones that didn't want to help with anything.

Parents who complained about homework couldn't stand that the government forced them to hand thier kids over to the public school system or be subject to arrest. They didn't think it was right that they were away from home for 9 hours at their job and their kids were at school for the same amount of time and then when they finally got to spend family time together the stupid teacher expected to interupt that time with the things she should have done with them while they were with her in school. She's getting paid to do that, BTW. She's the teacher, not them. Parents should show interest in what their children are learning in school, and talk to their kids about their studies, but kids should not be expected to have to give up their free time to do MORE school work, when everyone else in the workfield gets that time off when they go home!

You know what I think? I think you're a terrible person and a lousy christian and I feel sorry for any patient at the nursing home that you come into contact with.

I don't give a care what you think about me. You call me a terrible person, yet you are the one who calls me every name in the book. I thought I would just let up a little on my nicey niceness and give you a taste of you![/QUOTE]

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So you have all 30 patients in one room at all times? Wow. Sounds like a terrible nursing home. No wonder they hired you.

I work in a home that specializes in alzheimers care. There are 30 patients to each wing, and they have a large dining area and hallway where they are sitting or stationed during each day. Their rooms are off the hall way. At any given time they are wandering from room to room, and sitting in the halls and all over the place. Yes, I have to keep my eye on all 30 of them. How STUPID to suggest that a teachers pay is not enough cause she should get paid per child. How about a school bus driver? They have sometimes 30 -60 kids on one bus. According to you, they are underpaid!:cursing::ciappa:

I have hosted 3 exchange students, one from Poland, one from Norway and one from Holland. They could not believe how easy our education system was, specifically homework. Of course you can look at the USA's standings the worldwide ranking of math and science knowledge and see what no homework gets you.

How sweet of you to blame the lack of work at home! NOT!

Put the blame where it belongs. On our teachers. They suck! Yet they want more money!