I don't have a dog in this fight, but...

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Sam, if it makes you feel any better, the situation with Australian Aboriginals is even worse. Life expectancy is 15 years less (or more), they're 10 to 12 times more likely to be in prison, etc etc.

Unfortunately, I take no solace from the even worse statistics for a Native people living in another first world country. Australia or US it still sucks.

Originally Posted by Griff

Look at people not stereotypes. I didn't hear myself say any of the things you said I did. Humans learn best through role modeling, unemployment rates are high and higher in minority communities. The long-term unemployed can not show their children what it looks like to go to work 5 days a week and simultaneously organize a household. Newt was not saying anything that Democrats hadn't said before. I have an aide in my classroom right now who would be better off unemployed because her families' significant health care needs were better met under medicaid. She persists because she wants someday to have a middle-class life, but the cards are stacked against her. Most of Newts solutions are not likely to be helpful, but to dismiss them out of hand because of party bias isn't helpful either.

I didn't mean to imply that you held all the attitudes I mentioned in my post. I was thinking of the attitudes of people in general. Kudos to your classroom aide. I see Navajos here doing the same thing. For example, there's a Navajo woman where I work who comes in and puts in long hours at minimum wage for the sake of her kids too. The human spirit is amazing. If given even the smallest amount of incentive/assistance people will often fight like tigers to better themselves.

My feelings about Newt are not derived from "party bias." His solutions do not go to the root of the problem which as Bruce said is education, education, education. There's nothing like it. Education empowers people. It opens up entire new worlds of possibility. It allows people to move out of poverty. An educated work force will make the US more competitive globally. Providing an equal and quality education for all our children should be one of this country's highest priorities. What good is a jobs program for disadvantaged youth if they are not even literate or lack the ability to obtain so much as a GED? Once the government prop is gone, what jobs will these kids be able to obtain, role models or not?

And finally, I very much dislike Newt's hypocrisy. At this point there is no way that the Republican party will pass a spending bill for ANY social program. Talk is cheap and Newt is full of hot air.

[DanaC]

If there are tasks that could be done by these youngsters as part of an unwaged programme, then they could also be done through waged employment.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Griff

Yeah, he was describing a younger Americorp. Creating disincentives to work is a Democrat thing, we won't see that in a Republican proposal. Remember that Obama's administration wants to prevent farm kids under 16 from working. Let's call a truce no Republicans in the bedroom and no Democrats in the fields.

Ineresting turn of phrase, there. There's no disincentive to work in other jobs (though kids should be at school), but maybe it's good to keep them away from a job where Children who work in agriculture suffer more than 23,000 injuries and 300 fatalities on American farms every year.

ETA: It also free up farm jobs for adults.

[Undertoad]

we told the kid twice to keep his hands out of the thresher

[glatt]

My cousin died working on a farm. The tractor he was driving flipped over on him. He was probably about 14. He was my age, and we shared the same first name.

I was always a little freaked out after that whenever I drove a tractor on a hill, which fortunately wasn't that often.

[Undertoad]

d'oh

[glatt]

*shrug*
It was a long time ago.

Farming is, I believe, the most dangerous job. We had a thread about this a while ago. Maybe it's fisherman.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by glatt

*shrug*
It was a long time ago.

Farming is, I believe, the most dangerous job. We had a thread about this a while ago. Maybe it's fisherman.

or logging.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

we told the kid twice to keep his hands out of the thresher

Who? Stumpy?

ETA: And when a kid does get maimed, there's a faction out there that won't want to help him survive.

[classicman]

Perhaps its a functional idea if done in a format within the school, like a work study or Vo-tech. They could work at several different types of jobs for a semester each.
Something that gives them some real world experience and a start a possibly networking within a field of which they have some interest... jus thinkin.

[Lamplighter]

Christian Science Monitor
Peter Grier
1/18/12

Will Jon Stewart go to jail for running Stephen Colbert's super PAC?

As the head of a super political-action committee supporting Stephen Colbert,
Jon Stewart is not allowed to 'coordinate' with Colbert.
But the two are pushing the limits in the name of satire.

Jon Stewart does not want to go to jail. This is understandable –
the bagels in prison aren’t fresh, and Wi-Fi access is extremely limited.

So – as he explained on Tuesday night’s show – he is worried about his new position
as head of Stephen Colbert’s super political-action committee.
He’s happy with the money, of course, and the power, and so on.
He’s thinking of buying himself one of Elizabeth Taylor’s tiaras.
(We’re not making this up.) But he heard Mitt Romney say on “Morning Joe”
that he (Mitt) can’t coordinate with his own super PAC or he’ll go the “big house.”

“Which of your big houses do you go to? The beach house or the ski chalet?”
asked Mr. Stewart, before mugging it up in mock horror at finally getting Mr. Romney’s joke.
<snip>

But there is a loophole, or, as Colbert called it, a “loop-chasm.”
A candidate can talk to his associated super PAC via the media.
And the super PAC can listen, like everybody else.

“I can’t tell you [what to do]. But I can tell everyone through television,”
said Colbert on Stewart’s Comedy Central Show.
“And if you happen to be watching, I can’t prevent that.”

Stewart then played a clip of Newt Gingrich calling on his super PAC
to scrub ads attacking Mitt Romney for possible inaccuracies.
Stewart and Colbert then talked to elections lawyer Trevor Potter
– who is the attorney for both Colbert’s exploratory committee and the super PAC
– through the same phone. Stewart said he’d bought air time in South Carolina,
and so on, and Colbert just said he couldn’t coordinate,
but smiled or frowned, depending on which city the ad time was in.
Columbia, no. Charleston, yes!

Is this all legal, or are these comedians pushing the legal envelope
and in fact risking jail time?

[SamIam]

LOL Thanks, Lamplighter. I loved that. I adore Jon Stewart. I don't have cable, so I watch his shows on Hulu (or whatever that site is). Great stuff!

[Lamplighter]

The Republicans are so conditioned to dirty tricks on the Democrates,
they can't help themselves, and so are now doing it to themselves.

TV talking heads are saying that the "official count" of votes in the Iowa
caucuses was not correct, that Santorum actually won Iowa by 34 votes.

It seems that the "official count" comes from the tally of votes filed on "Form E"
submitted by each of the Iowa precincts, and the forms from 8 precincts are "missing"

Now, did Santorum win or not ? Is the cat in the box alive or dead ?

[infinite monkey]

Put them side by side, give a blind man a gun, point him towards Biff and Snotorum and let him start shooting: whoever is left standing wins the right to get his ass beat by Obama in November.

[BigV]

A Certified count? I don't know enough about the rules for the R caucus but I think it's all a bit pretentious since there are no delegates at the Republican nominating convention at stake. It really is what some called, "a beauty contest". Now it looks like some folks think Santorum prettier than Romney.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Now, Perry has suspended his campaign and has endorsed Gingrich.

Santorum, Gingrich, Romney and Paul. And only Paul and Romney on the ballot in VA. So interesting, so scary.