SCREAMING EAGLE-66

.. --Several GOP people in Congress were aware of it also. The problem is how much was going on... I think it had been pictured as people/groups who were avoiding taxes but it became so widespread. That isn't the only problem with the IRS department.. excessive spending too. (90) you are again making a lot of assumptions. [ Some could also assume 9-11 would have never happened if the other guy was in office ... but that is rather doubtful as well. You assume one party is all bad and the other is all good ... neither is true.....Germany made the same mistake and believed everything they heard from one party and source. ] Seems the military is full of worms and problems as well ... not political party related either. .

-- In order to gain respect you have to show some. This tread isn't... We hate SMU for that same reason ( and a lot of other ones) .I haven't notice any Cougars here trashing us either. (SMU has) ... Having said that ... I am uncertain why this is on the NT football tread.

.. So if a co-captain takes over for the captain of a sinking ship you blame the co-captain that it sunk..? ...same thing. ... Very tough to turn things around in a bad situation. .. ..

.. Well his administration did .... they ran up the debt as much as the TOTAL of all 42 previous Presidents.... How would you like to spin it.???? And worse... the current Congress can't get anything done to reverse what was done** [ one house is now GOP ] and tax revenues are/were less after the 2008 meltdown ( before Obama ) and unemployment payments and other expenses went up as a result. .. Some of the current GOP tea-party people even want more tax cuts... No one likes taxes.. but public services and national defense costs money ... especially when you invade countries without being provoked such as happened in Iraq (first time ever by America). That is the reason very few other countries helped us except humanitarian aid including France which the "hawks" liked to portray as "chicken". The only time economic conditions went this bad was in 1930s (starting in 1929)... again after 12 years of GOP White House control ( Harding, Coolidge, Hoover ). Sorry... reality may not be what you want it to be. . ** very tough even by individuals to pay off debt or stop spending once started. ...better ... just never get to that point. ..

.. --In 2001 when Clinton left.. debt was 5.4 trillion after 200+ years... In 2009 when Obama walked in the debt was about $11 trillion... since then Congress has changed very little of what was happening in 2001-2009. and in 2009 things were such a mess with the bail outs, poor economy and less tax revenue due to the severe drop in DOW. 6 of those 8 years the GOP controlled both houses and the White House... 2009-10 are poor years to judge anything due to problems inherited (less tax money because of fewer people working, and lot less capital gains) and for several years since then GOP controlled one house and wants to pass nothing but more tax cuts... [ when you are in debt... you decrease income?? ] Yes I hate taxes too... but if you want to provide for the common DEFENCE, have a stable country, and do everything mentioned in Constitution .. taxes are necessary ... just not for doll museums (a GOP earmark) and other foolish things. .. .

Did in 1945 too..

.. Several reasons.. 1. We educate everyone...and to a rather high age... In some countries after a certain "grade" many go into "trade" schools. I'm guessing many of those really aren't taking the tests ... which affects scores and gives a false comparison.. 2. My high school class scored very high on standardized tests. Of course the age to drop out was lower then and a lot of them did. Leaving a group that did well in school. We were pre Viet Nam.... and after that scores dropped... partly because a lot less guys were dropping out.... they didn't like the idea of being sent to a rice paddy... which is what happened to most of them eventually. Later the compulsory age was raised which would drop scores because those that were doing poorly in school were still there instead of gone. You need to look HOW a country runs their schools to really compare. Part two of that is labor laws here... the young can no longer get jobs they once could ... so.... with no real jobs with decent pay available... they stay in school..... Not true in many countries.... which removes of the disinterested and poor student which would have dropped test scores.... 3. So many students that I have had in the past especially in Texas here go home and speak Spanish.. Often their parents are NOT that well educated either even in Spanish. That doesn't happen in Iowa, Idaho, and many other places ... that will drop scores. that isn't much of a problem in foreign countries... they tend to speak the language and are often educated and multi-lingual.. I have been in Europe many times and most all can speak/write multiple languages. The education backgournd of parents is a big factor in achievement... Don't compare a border town achievement scores with Frisco/Plano for example for that reason.. ........ that is the big reason the state testing is so flawed especially in evaluating teachers... the best teacher can often have lower scores... [ all about who is walking in the door to be taught ] My parents were unable to finish high school (depression) my kids had college educated parents .. and now have computer and law degrees ...makes a difference. 4.. Last........ I am disgusted with schools that pressure teachers to pass kids when they don't deserve it......... When you expect nothing.... you get nothing ***. It spills over when a kid with a 74 grade sees a kid that did about nothing get a 70 ... guess what.... he gets it.... don't need to work to pass .... and he won't. ... and it gets worse every semester. ..... part two of that is you don't want 15 year olds in a class with 12 year olds..... and you don't want the 15 year walking the streets (can't get a job) and breaking into houses. Problem..... find an answer for those kids... and trade classes etc. are not as cheap as teaching Chaucer. *** applies to parents too ... too many expect nothing from their kid and don't have the courage to say NO or be a parent... and therefore get about nothing from them.... they just blame the schools. ...that is easier......... Check out most Asian kids.... their parents pressure them to learn... and they do. I teach stats... people need to consider how those scores were achieved and the population... Strange that basketball players have a larger height than the general population... They are just people like the rest of us. ..

.. WOW ... You do realize all those items listed happened during the W.Bush administration.... So now he is a Progressive.... ?? I agree that he was no conservative but claimed to be... as is a lot of other people. A conservative doesn't go into debt .... minds his own business.... and doesn't tell everyone what to believe and do. ..

. plus a schedule with teams people know about and want to see.

She is likely right ... I have taught 40 plus years. People who have never taught usually have no clue... Example, most Politicians. Almost all this state testing hurts not helps. The original TABS test was ok ..lt prevented near illiterates from graduating... the current ones exists so politicians can claim they are doing something. Both my son who are engineers made more starting than I did after 30 years teaching math.... In today's tech world you don't see as many men in education as you did, especially in math and science. You get what, you pay for. I teach college math now and the average student just out of HS is not as good as they once were....but the best may be better. Increasing. Grad requirements hurts I think. Upper classes now have people in them that don't belong and it hurts the overall quality of the group. Flunk people that deserve to fail. It hurts others when the lazy pass.... Next semester they think "why work, I'll pass anyway." Colleges don't.. so the quality gets much better. Not everyone in HS is or should go to college. Quit teaching everyone as If they were. Offer subjects they need.... But that is more expensive again. One odd thing to consider... in today's world the smartest women can get all kinds of jobs... 40 years ago most went into education or nursing.... the only jobs available to them then. Find an answer for trouble-making "students". Problem: you don't want them out on the streets and you don't want them in the typical classrooms. ... I have no answer ... except have classes they have some interest in.

The lottery [ Lotto Texas ] .... it goes into the general fund and was never actually "earmarked as additional funds for education"..[ some tried to sell it that way ] All politicians then did was reduce funding from other sources... (especially Perry). ... so.. education did not come out ahead... Do you really want to live in a poorly educated country?? There are lots of them in the world... pick one.

The scenes is older films were rather long and actors had to memorizes long passages... now each scene is broken up into a few seconds... explains a big difference in quality. Even conversions jump back and forth now and they did not so much then. Hard to compare across the ages...Editing is a bit deal today..

-- I can't remember their names but was on TV last winter... one had started basketball and then quit at before Christmas and dropped all UIL activities... They were class A size if I remember right may have also been in west Texas and travel costs become very expensive as well... That is one reason many don't do some activities... travel expense... and cutbacks just did those problems in.. Large districts just enlarge classes to find funds... they can't. There were others that had dropped it or other sports/activities as well but I don't think they had started them first.

--- I am not sure I would call the Pilgrims geniuses... That landed on the Mass. coast in December ( not warm a weather month) ... out of water, food and unable to grow any. Obviously no housing and weather was terrible to even build any. The only reason they survived is that there was an Indian that could speak English due to knowing previous Cod fishermen and he helped them find food to eat.... Most of the colony died before the next year.. --- As for Freedom of religion, they did want to believe as they wanted but the Puritans did not celebrate Christmas or Easter and before long were hanging people as witches and heretics if they believed differently. So much for freedom of religion... --- Jamestown had been founded about 15 years earlier and the recent findings don't picture them very well either... early settlers were tough but often fleeing a bad situation... I would not classify these as geniuses... Now the people that declared our independence and later set up the constitution in 1789 may have been.... but conservative they weren't.... Tories were the conservatives ... those conservatives liked things as they had been and did not want any change... The people who composed the Constitution were very Progressive and established a type of government that had not existed until then. ..

.. Very little... I am retired....(plus own land) .. I now teach two classes (mostly for something to do except watch TV) and pay isn't a lot and it doesn't mean that much anymore to me.... it does to my friends. Like I keep saying you don't understand me at all. I am conservative financially but not so much otherwise...Don't run up debts ( see start in 2001) or have useless expenses but pay for things that needs to be paid for. Plus the wife is public school retired but teaches in a very expensive private school so nothing the state does has any effect on her... except drive people away from public school and to her..( not a bad thing for her ) We just get to pay more local taxes. You make way too many assumptions about things .... often about subjects you know nothing really about. Plus I am not one of these idiots that walks in and votes straight party without knowing why they voted for anyone. .... granted I do lean more one way that the other... but it is more about what the candidates believe, say, and DO. There are turkeys on both sides and some good ones also. I am very open about what I do .... I have no clue what you do but you spend a lot of time on this site to be supposedly working. I am even guessing you have no kids in school either since you claim two hometowns and a girlfriend.... so you care nothing about education. ..

Best?.. don't know ... Favorites: James Stewart, good movies, lot of variety, REAL war hero, bomber pilot in WWII in dangerous Ruhr Valley and later General in reserves, married once, great character [ unlike J.Wayne spent NO time in military despite WWII going on, three marriages (none American born) , stayed drunk a lot, would have a bad image problem in today's world of intense media ] ...... Today actors... Tom Hanks.

--- I am sure Perry had a lot to do with all this oil activity out here in West Texas and our 2.8% unemployment (only people here without a job are people who can't pass drug or background checks )... If it wasn't for Perry they would be drilling in Maine or Oregon? His presence has zero to do with the Texas economy... I am sure the Houston Texans would not have made the playoffs the past two years either if he had not been Gov... [ get real ]

-- Maybe that is fairly obvious by reading some posts here... hahaha. We are in the bottom 10 of 50 states on that issue in public schools.... and maybe it shows. So you think state colleges should kick up the tuition even more... it has tripled since Perry walked in. Most third world countries spent less and they are third world because of it. We could cut more... some small schools have eliminated all sports and UIL activities (no funds) ... So you think reading, writing and rithmetic is the way to go... cut band, choir, art, football, baseball, basketball, absolutely foreign languages (Real Americans should speak only English) , that is exactly what charter schools do (Perry loves them)... also maybe those infidels that teach science classes that don't believe the world started in 5000 BC etc. ....then education would cost less....... He seems to want people to quit traditional public schools and go private... and pay, instead of using tax money ... pretty much back to what was happening in 1776 .... a true conservative .. no change ... our forefathers didn't play football etc. we should do as they did ). We didn't even have public fire departments until that radical left-winger and British-traitor Ben Franklin started one.

14 years in office is way too long.. (he will be when finishing this term .. and apparently wants more time ) . Rylander, K.B. Hutcheson or any of the Democrats he defeated would have been far better. He continues to veto so much money for education that had been passed by the legislature and wants even more tax cuts for business ($1.6 billion more now) despite the fact Texas is about 46th or 48th in state taxes per capita. But NO tax cuts for most of us ... sales, tobacco, gasoline, or alcohol..just for business, besides when he cuts taxes for a business it is not passed on to just Texans ( if it is passed on) but to everyone nationally or internationally. ... so we Texans get to pay even more local property taxes in for schools etc. and get nothing in return. He wants none of the education money cut from last budget returned to education. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20101003-perry_s-tech-fund-aided-firms-with-ties-to-his-donors.ece Article in DMN and other papers is about how much money he is getting kicked back... maybe legally but sure not ethically. Only two other Texas governors have served as much as 8 years.. Bill Clements (of SMU fame) with two split terms and Allen Shivers back in the 1950's. Perry is hoping for 18 years apparently (many Kings didn't get that many years)

---We need to stay out of the Middle East as much as possible... that place is nothing but trouble for us. Absolutely stay off the ground military-wise. Reagan did the right thing when he bombed the "devil" out of Libya and Khadafy caused little trouble after that. ... Another President did the wrong thing by invading with no real intelligence of WMD..... and it cost us billions and 1000's of injured and dead Americans.... are we better off..??.. not really.. Al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorists were not in Iraq before we invaded... Saddam hated and killed them because of what had happened in Iran and was not friend of the Islamics in Iran.. Seems to me the conservative thing to do would be leave them alone when we can. Stay away from Syria as well if possible... All we do is make them more irate when we make a put in. We have enough problems without trying to solve everyone else's. Oddly it is the so-called conservatives that want us to get involved in other countries internal affairs... Desert Storm was entirely different... that involved a country invading another without just reason.

... "Over valued market" .... that is likely true (you probably are right for once) ...... but because the interest rates are so low on CDs and other things that too much money has gone into the market.. If the interest rates goes up ... it will likely fall (also the value on low interest bonds).... but unlikely as bad as it did in 2008. Crazy that you want to credit Bush for a great market in 2008 but ignore the insane economic collapse later in the year when he was still in office... and all before elections too. Why not toss in the debt as of 2008 compared to 2000... (it had doubled). It was going up less than 2% per year (average) in Clinton era. Oil prices in summer 2008 were the highest ever... and again too high because of so much Wall Street speculation on futures. They still aren't as high as they were then or gasoline either. All the costly banking and financial bail-outs were done before the 2008 election... The auto companies bail-outs were done later and most of those have been paid back (with interest). Bengazi ... if you blame Obama there, then maybe Bush get blame for 9-11, and FDR for Pearl Harbor, .... but all are stupid claims.... It just isn't possible to prevent everything and always has been that way... It isn't possible to predict everything others might do... It is always easy to be a Monday morning QB. No doubt some bad comments and wrong statements were made... which happens a lot early on. They should have corrected their early opinions earlier as things became better known.. T-party and IRS: Not a good thing but laws need to be enforced or clarified better... Organizations that endorse candidates and political parties can't legally be tax exempt groups apparently, at least not under the rules they are claiming... same applies to religious groups and churches .. this could really get interesting as so many violate this as many have said in religious services to vote certain ways.. That borders on separation of church and state ... can't have it both ways... if government can't support certain religious groups then religions shouldn't support certain government groups. This all came about because of the "Christian" European wars (mostly Catholic vs. Protestant and Inquisition) and events such as the Salem witch trials in the USA... Never good to mix them.... just look at the much of the Middle East...or even the attempted elimination of the Jewish religion in Germany by their government. . The confiscation of media phone records and email... that bothers me.... but so did the entire Patriot Act .... which is pretty much where this coming from and doesn't look Constitutional. There have been a lot of abuses of it especially early on. ..

.. Considering this can affect Lance Dunbar, a former North Texas player, it doesn't seem a stretch to be here.. ..

.. ---Guess you know why the odd time was 10:50 ...It was a trade off.... had been 11:00... but the girls gave up ten minutes every week night for one more hour ( from 12:00 to 1:00 ) on Saturday. Also remember women must wear skirts on campus until 4;00, then pants were permitted. I never wore levis to class unless weather was very bad.. .no one did...we dressed very urban even those of us from west Texas. Kids today have no ideas about the draft.. I was "draft bait" for 6 years and finally took a physical.. somehow I failed but so did everyone else that was 24 or 25 that day... Every 19-20 year old passed... Welcome to Nam. I got the feeling they didn't want us contrary older guys... easier to boss an 19 year old around. ..

Might be good two ways. We don't have Felix .... And they do....

Where do you live/family: Midland, Texas /three "kids", two with NT degrees plus an Aggie grad Degree/Year attended/graduated UNT: Mathematics--- Graduated 1966, and 1975 Favorite NT Memory: I was a "charter resident" of College Inn .... The guys on my floor my senior year were diverse, crazy and fun. "Animal House" could have taken notes from some of them. Favorite NT Sports Memory: As a student: MVC basketball games and especially defeating Cincinnati in 1965. Some of their players had been national champions two years earlier........... Later: Defeating TxTech in Lubbock by coming from behind in what became known as the "tortilla game", My kids and Tech-alum wife were with me. ..... Not exactly sports..... The final game at Fouts, My future son-in law asked me in middle of the field after the game about marrying my daughter.