Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[Alan Klein]

Is this what happens to someone who hasn't been able to go to the race track and bet on the horses for a year?

Now, let's resume our conversation from before all this betting nonsense.

Nah.  Without the bet, I'm not interested.

[digitaldog]

Nah.  Without the bet, I'm not interested.

I'll place a bet of any value that despite this fallacy above, he will continue.
He can't help himself. How else can he get the attention he so needs here? 

[faberryman]

Nah.  Without the bet, I'm not interested.

That comes as no surprise.

[NikoJorj]

Wow, I must say, even reading a few news from your side of the pond, I couldn't imagine how far your politics are polarized. That's certainly instructive.

Why does my state of New Jersey need the Feds?

The same way we'll eventually need Europe to talk to our national Education ministries : to make sure you receive a coherent education if you go to primary school in New Jersey, then high school in Wyoming and college in Texas?

[TechTalk]

So the Truth Brigade without a name or place of birth has also become the SPellCheck and Grammar Brigade.

Only occasionally. The vast majority slide by without comment, but sometimes the temptation is too much to resist.

Grow up and stop the inane comments

My replies to some of the absurd and ironic comments posted here may not be to your liking. Such is life or as the French say...

https://www.youtube.com/Emmylou Harris - C'est La Vie - Live

and personal attacks.

Always the victim; now, what were you saying about Biden being senile; faberryman's "Lack of conviction"; and me growing up?

[Robert Roaldi]

Nah.  Without the bet, I'm not interested.

Alan, you're trolling.

[Robert Roaldi]

Funny (to me) article about the people involved in the "Storming of the Capitol", https://newlinesmag.com/argument/little-man-what-now/. I wonder if that phrase will go down in history like "Storming of the Bastille" has. The article is about several of the individuals at the Jan 6 party in DC. It's not complimentary. The funniest line is about the real estate agent shilling for business while revolting.

"Liberté, Fraternité, Imbécilité!"

Reads like a Tim Dorsey novel.

[TechTalk]

Why does my state of New Jersey need the Feds?

NJ Top Education State In Latest U.S. News Ranking
According to the new ranking by U.S. News & World Report, New Jersey tops all states in education.
https://patch.com/new-jersey/princeton/nj-top-education-state-latest-u-s-news-ranking

New Jersey receives federal school funding to help with specific educational needs, such as: students with special education needs; disabilities; and low income area students. Below is a page with a 10-minute YouTube video that gives an overview of what decisions are made at local, state, and federal levels; where the funding comes from; and how it's allocated. It's a quick and easy way to become a more knowledgeable taxpayer.

https://www.nj.gov/education/ESSA/learn/context/

Additionally, federal funds are made available to states for education when required to meet emergency or other special needs. This happened last year and more funding will be coming this year.

NJ Schools to Get $280M in Federal Emergency Aid, But Future Still Uncertain

https://www.njspotlight.com/2020/05/nj-schools-to-get-280m-in-federal-emergency-aid-but-future-still-uncertain

Gov. Phil Murphy says state aid to schools is in jeopardy as New Jersey faces revenue shortfalls in the billions of dollars

The stimulus amounts being made available to districts are proportional to the federal aid each normally receives through the Title I program, which is aimed at low-income and disadvantaged students.

N.J. got $310M in COVID-19 aid for schools. Here’s what your district will receive.

https://www.nj.com/education/2020/05/nj-got-310m-in-covid-19-aid-for-schools-heres-what-your-district-will-receive

[James Clark]

Alan, you're trolling.

I mean, that (and general grievance) has sort of become the raison d'être of the right these days.  Well, that and suppressing the vote. 

[Alan Klein]

Wow, I must say, even reading a few news from your side of the pond, I couldn't imagine how far your politics are polarized. That's certainly instructive.
The same way we'll eventually need Europe to talk to our national Education ministries : to make sure you receive a coherent education if you go to primary school in New Jersey, then high school in Wyoming and college in Texas?

The American government is over 200 years old. The Department of Education was only started in 1979, 42 years ago.  America at that time was the greatest country in the world, richest, most powerful, most educated.    Americans didn't have any problem getting educated before 1979.  Do you think Harvard, Yale, MIT, etc need Washington to tell them what their curriculum should be?  Local communities, counties, and states decide on their curriculum in the lower grades, not Washington.  Unlike France, we're a Federal Republic of 50 sovereign states who decide these things.  We don't need a central planning group in Paris to decide things for the whole country.  Educators in each state meet in private groups to figure it all out on their own.  Washington would only insist on their own way which might be counterproductive to the federal system, as well as illegally unconstitutional. 

[Alan Klein]

New Jersey receives federal school funding to help with specific educational needs, such as: students with special education needs; disabilities; and low income area students. Below is a page with a 10-minute YouTube video that gives an overview of what decisions are made at local, state, and federal levels; where the funding comes from; and how it's allocated. It's a quick and easy way to become a more knowledgeable taxpayer.

https://www.nj.gov/education/ESSA/learn/context/

Additionally, federal funds are made available to states for education when required to meet emergency or other special needs. This happened last year and more funding will be coming this year.

NJ Schools to Get $280M in Federal Emergency Aid, But Future Still Uncertain

https://www.njspotlight.com/2020/05/nj-schools-to-get-280m-in-federal-emergency-aid-but-future-still-uncertain

Gov. Phil Murphy says state aid to schools is in jeopardy as New Jersey faces revenue shortfalls in the billions of dollars

The stimulus amounts being made available to districts are proportional to the federal aid each normally receives through the Title I program, which is aimed at low-income and disadvantaged students.

N.J. got $310M in COVID-19 aid for schools. Here’s what your district will receive.

https://www.nj.com/education/2020/05/nj-got-310m-in-covid-19-aid-for-schools-heres-what-your-district-will-receive

Let me tell you a story.  My wife was a teacher in the NYC public school system teaching special education kids with problems. The Federal government gave some money to the states for these kids.  However, they had to keep track of a complicated computer program to keep attendance.  That added lots of extra time she had to spend after school to create these attendance rolls for the Federal government.  The teacher's union sued the state for creating extra work that was not in their contract.  They won in arbitration court.  My wife was paid an additional $13,000 for that computer time, thank you, plus an increase in her pension for the rest of her life.  Thank you again. Multiply that by the thousands of other teachers who were also paid.  Millions of dollars were wasted. Just so the Federal government could have its attendance rolls.  Dumb. 

Federal tax money comes from the states, to begin with.  All Washington is doing is recirculating it, misappropriating it along the way.  It's like everything else they spend - mostly misallocated.  If they'd tax less, the states would have more money, to begin with to give their own kids and schools and decide how it should be spent.
 Would you want someone else telling you how to spend your income in your home?  It's bad enough you have to listen to your wife.    It's all about power in Washington, not education. With all the money Washington spends, education levels have gone down, not up, especially in distressed areas. 

[TechTalk]

The Department of Education was only started in 1979, 42 years ago.

Prior to which it was contained within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare established in 1953. Prior to that it was contained within the Federal Security Agency established in 1939 which was responsible for the Public Health Service (PHS), Office of Education, Civilian Conservation Corps, and Social Security Board. The federal Office of Education goes back to 1868 after briefly being designated the Department of Education the prior year.

[faberryman]

Here is something interesting. The Texas governor rescinded the mask mandate. The Austin mayor decided to leave it in place. So the governor has threatened to sue the mayor to lift the mask mandate. Seems there are a couple of statutes that are in conflict, so a court will have to decide. Sometimes court proceedings take a while. Maybe everyone will be vaccinated before the court makes a final ruling and the whole thing will be rendered moot.  You may remember months ago this same scenario played out in Georgia. The governor lifted the mask mandate and the mayor of Atlanta left it is place. The governor threatened to sue the mayor to lift the mask mandate. Turns out the governor never followed though with his threat.

‘I will sue you’: Texas AG Ken Paxton gives City of Austin deadline to rescind mask mandate

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/i-will-sue-you-texas-ag-ken-paxton-gives-city-of-austin-deadline-to-rescind-mask-mandate/

[Alan Klein]

Prior to which it was contained within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare established in 1953. Prior to that it was contained within the Federal Security Agency established in 1939 which was responsible for the Public Health Service (PHS), Office of Education, Civilian Conservation Corps, and Social Security Board. The federal Office of Education goes back to 1868 after briefly being designated the Department of Education the prior year.

Thanks.  I didn't know that. So I did some checking.  This is from the Dept. of Ed's own site.  It seems people resented its power from the very beginning.  It didn't really do much until I was in grade school in the 1950's.  Maybe they figured I needed help.    I see the same interest in my wife's attendance rolls was of similar interest back under President Andrew Jackson.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The Department's History
Although the Department is a relative newcomer among Cabinet-level agencies, its origins goes back to 1867, when President Andrew Johnson signed legislation creating the first Department of Education. Its main purpose was to collect information and statistics about the nation's schools. However, due to concern that the Department would exercise too much control over local schools, the new Department was demoted to an Office of Education in 1868.

Over the years, the office remained relatively small, operating under different titles and housed in various agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior and the former U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare (now Health and Human Services).

Beginning in the 1950s, political and social changes resulted in expanded federal funding for education. The successful launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik in 1957 spurred nationwide concern that led to increased aid for science education programs. The 1960s saw even more expansion of federal education funding: President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" called for the creation of many programs to improve education for poor students at all levels—early childhood through postsecondary. This expansion continued in the 1970s with national efforts to help racial minorities, women, people with disabilities and non-English speaking students gain equal access to education. In October 1979, Congress passed the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88). Created by combining offices from several federal agencies, the Department began operations in May 1980.

In the 1860s, a budget of $15,000 and four employees handled education fact-finding. By 1965, the Office of Education had more than 2,100 employees and a budget of $1.5 billion. As of mid-2010, the Department has nearly 4,300 employees and a budget of about $60 billion.
https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/focus/what.html

[digitaldog]

Thanks.  I didn't know that.

Making the comment (The Department of Education was only started in 1979, 42 years ago) moot.

It seems people resented its power from the very beginning.

Some people, also posting here resented Gov power from the very beginning.

It didn't really do much until I was in grade school in the 1950's. Maybe they figured I needed help.

Has much changed? 

[TechTalk]

Do you think Harvard, Yale, MIT, etc need Washington to tell them what their curriculum should be?

Harvard, Yale, and MIT are all private Ivy League schools. Although, MIT began as a federally funded land-grant college when those were first established. Land-grant colleges were established by the Lincoln administration during the Civil War in 1862. It was an effort by the federal government to foster higher learning in the country which paid off handsomely in the decades and centuries that followed.

Here's a map of land-grant colleges, universities, and institutions across the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land-grant_university/media/Land_Grant_Colleges_Map

[faberryman]

Given the size of the federal budget, it sounds like a pittance to me. But I guess everyone has different priorities.

"Overall, the President’s fiscal year 2021 Budget includes $66.6 billion in new discretionary budget authority for the Department of Education, a $6.1 billion, or 8.4 percent reduction below the fiscal year 2020 appropriation."

https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget21/summary/21summary.pdf

[Peter McLennan]

Things are looking up here in the GWN. Birdsong, temps in the double digits, smells are reappearing, the sun is warmer every day and I just got my Sprinter back on the road today. 

The best part? His insurance for precisely the same period and coverage is over $200 cheaper this year.  And, they promise to rebate even more in May, just as soon as they figure out how much money they can send back to me. 

The accident rate in the last 12 months has dropped precipitously due to covid, so the government-run vehicle insurance scheme is returning the excess profits to the customers. 

"Socialism", I think they call it.    

[MattBurt]

Things are looking up here in the GWN. Birdsong, temps in the double digits, smells are reappearing, the sun is warmer every day and I just got my Sprinter back on the road today.

The best part? His insurance for precisely the same period and coverage is over $200 cheaper this year.  And, they promise to rebate even more in May, just as soon as they figure out how much money they can send back to me.

The accident rate in the last 12 months has dropped precipitously due to covid, so the government-run vehicle insurance scheme is returning the excess profits to the customers. 

"Socialism", I think they call it.   

Sounds good, comrade. 

[LesPalenik]

Things are looking up here in the GWN. Birdsong, temps in the double digits, smells are reappearing, the sun is warmer every day and I just got my Sprinter back on the road today.

The best part? His insurance for precisely the same period and coverage is over $200 cheaper this year.  And, they promise to rebate even more in May, just as soon as they figure out how much money they can send back to me.

The accident rate in the last 12 months has dropped precipitously due to covid, so the government-run vehicle insurance scheme is returning the excess profits to the customers. 

"Socialism", I think they call it.   

In Ontario, the insurance companies still charge as much as they can get away with.