Hook and Bullet Crowd

[noreaster]

Who will the 50 million strong hook and bullet crowd vote for this fall?

Typically the majority of the hook and bullet crowd votes Republican but wait we have a Democrat that has been hunting since he was a kid and recently killed 2 pheasants with 2 shots. Not bad. Plus this Democrat skis in the morning and snowboards in the afternoon.

Republican sportsman and outdoorsman are having a tougher time deciding. Interesting read.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=654993

 

[Charlie Schuessler]

From what I've been hearing on NPR & PBS, based on the location demographics, unemployed outdoorsman who reside in rural america, where plants are closed or are slated to be closing, regardless of union or non-union operations, will be voting Democratic. It will be interesting to see what transpires in the conventions in a few weeks.

 

[Stephen]

An interesting site that does a projection based on national and state polls.

The owner has an admitted bias, but the numbers don't lie...

http://www.electionprojection.com

-Stephen

 

[teachski]

Well, with what the republicans have been doing to public education should be an issue too. They set all of these new requirements, start programs to support them then withdraw the funding for these programs (but still require them to continue) and cut more and more from the funding of public education every time we turn around. Funding has been cut so much that some schools do not have enough to even run their regular school year, yet government wants extended programs for after school and for the summers.

We need a change...we need to watch more carefully where our money is being spent.

 

[riverc0il]

teachski, interesting that they cut funding for public schools and public schools are failing... makes it easy to push an agenda for privitization and vouchers.......... hmmmmmmmmmmm.....

 

[teachski]

Exactly what they are trying to do...they add and require stuff but cut the budgets and it makes the public schools look bad. Public Schools overall are NOT failing, however. Did you know that the 8th grade level MCAS test in the state of MA has math that you probably didn't see until well after that, if at all? There are questions that involve calculus, trig. and functions.
The Science test at this level involves Chemistry, Physics and Biology...all taught at the high school level. One of the Science questions involved balancing a complex chemical equation. By adding these things to the MCAS...which private schools do not take BTW, they make the school look bad and again, that goes with their push for privatization.

 

[riverc0il]

having been through a public school system, i think the standards really were set way too low. especially when in a lower level, the standard got lowered for you and you feel behind other students (full disclosure: in started in medium levels and worked up to high so i'm speaking from a perspective of someone that overcame that problem - then i found out kids in the high group really aren't learning much more any ways cause they got to goof off more with the teacher... okay, wrong place for this rant). any ways, i think it's a tough balance because the most important part of the educational system is really the parents in my opinion. and most parents look at the school system and say "thank goodness, 7 hours without my kid!" but then are quick to blame the school system when they don't push their own child. whereas parents sending their kids to private school have the "you sure as hell better be making straight A's!" lecture everynight due to the added expense. not institutionally created difference, but parental approach difference that gets channeled into various institutions. but parents can only push if the schools push too, it takes two to tango. but why bother pushing a kid that's much happied in front of the game cube. what a screwed up society.

 

[teachski]

ANY school is really just what the student and the parent make of it. If the student is motivated to learn they will. You've made a good point about parents...there are way too many that don't take education seriously. I actually had a parent tell me when I commented about their child's lack of homework completion at a meeting, "Oh, "Steve" can't wast his time at night doing homework. He's in school all day, he has to have some free time, after all, he's only 14."

The big difference is...private schools can choose who they educate and take only the "creme of the crop", public schools have to educate everyone. Going to a private school guarentees no more success than going to a public school. It sometimes appears that private school students are more successful because they just get rid of those who are not performing to the standard they expect. There are some cases where this does not happen, the student stays at the school despite the problems and receives passing grades for substandard work...usually there is a financial reason for this.

You mentioned something about a sort of "tracking" that used to take place , there is a lot less of that now...most classes are multi-level. In High School there is a little more division, but NOT like it was when I was in school. As you probably know, I teach 8th grade Special Education. These students have REAL problems, it's not like it used to be, they can not put a kid into special ed just because they are lazy. There is a long list of criteria that a student must meet and there has to be evidence (tests) to prove the disability before a student can be placed in special ed. My students are those with specific and identified learning disibilities...they are not cognitively impaired. The average IQ in my room is right around 110.

Maybe it's just me, but my students use the same exact materials as others at the grade level. We cover the material at a different rate and using different methods, but the content is the same. My students take the same MCAS test as everyone else too. Granted, they may have some accomodations, for example, there are a few that can use a word processor with spell check (their spelling is not what is being tested). I have to justify each and every accomodation made and that accomodation has to be something that is available to the student on a day-to-day basis.

Thank you for pointing out that one of the main problems with public education is the parents. I used to work in the primary grades (because I was assigned there). There was nothing sadder than giving a Kindergarten screening and have a child come in that didn't know their colors, couldn't count to 10, didn't know the alphabet and in some cases didn't even know their address or their last name. When we asked parents about this many would say, "that's not our job, that's why we send them to school." The VALUE of education starts in the home and needs to start early. (sorry, I had to rant)

 

[tycho32]

No one who ever enjoys the use of a rifle would in a right frame of mind vote for Kerry. Look at MA and the gun laws there. They are crazy.

 

[noreaster]

No one who ever enjoys the use of a rifle would in a right frame of mind vote for Kerry. Look at MA and the gun laws there. They are crazy.

I agree that the gun laws in MA are a tad extreme. So much so that hunters going to Maine sometimes choose to drive around the state of MA to get to Maine.

My question is this. As a US Senator Kerry can not pass MA state gun laws. Does anyone have any information on Kerry's past history on influencing MA state gun laws. I know the Kenedy's did but my question is did Kerry have any direct influence on MA state gun laws?