Slower change, please
There is no question that standards-based education will set aside traditional methods of instruction used to educate students since the late 1800s. Neither is there any question that a change is desperately needed. The disturbing question remains: Is standard-based education the best model in existence to replace the century-plus old industrial model?
I am anxious as I watch this change approach us like a tsunami that seemingly cannot be stopped. My anxiety is increased when I read such articles as “Teacher: One (maddening) day working with the Common Core” in the Washington Post.
Simply because this new system will replace an old worn-out system is not sufficient reason that it should be embraced. Are there better models out there which are being ignored, such those as in Finland or Singapore? Are we racing headlong into this drastic change, thus possibly putting our students at risk, in a disguised attempt to acquire federal money (i.e., the Race to the Top)?
It is past time that we apply a little braking, not enough to stop, but enough to slow a bit and proceed cautiously. There are many wrinkles in the common cores; wrinkles big enough to wreck an already damaged system.
Guy Bourrie
Washington
Angus and rural Maine
A recent letter to the editor mischaracterized Angus King’s record while governor on rural issues.
The first complaint involved a decision made about linking Aroostook’s electrical system to the rest of Maine in 1991 — four years before Angus became governor. Hard to blame him for that one. In fact, Angus supported and signed a bill to establish just such a link.
Angus oversaw to the reconstruction of Route 11 to Fort Kent and Route 9 to Calais, the two largest road reconstruction projects in Maine history. Ask anyone who lives along either road what it meant to Aroostook and Washington counties.
He had a direct role in persuading Harrison McCain to invest $100 million in the potato processing plant in Easton, a project still paying dividends to growers and employees. He made countless trips to both counties and worked with small businesses on marketing, infrastructure and permitting. I know because I was involved in several of those businesses.
In Washington County, Angus pushed through the completion of the Eastport port facilities, negotiated with New Brunswick on the locally preferred location of the Calais bridge and found funding for the first full-time economic development position in Washington County.
Aroostook’s unemployment rate when Angus was elected was a terrible 11 percent. By 2000, we had dropped to 3.9 percent. Obviously, this wasn’t all Angus’ doing, but his policies and hard work on our behalf sure helped.
In my opinion, no other governor in my lifetime has done as much for rural Maine.
Greg Cyr
Fort Kent
Reordered priorities
Day after day we hear updates related to the proposed state budget cuts. I keep asking myself why is it necessary, in a society that has such abundance, that people who are less fortunate and their advocates have to literally beg for the basic necessities?
How does it make any sense to anyone that an essential safety net like General Assistance would be on the chopping block? How can we entertain the idea of placing single parents and children in jeopardy of homelessness by withdrawing the meager aid that TANF benefits provide? Should homeless people, impoverished women and vulnerable children pay the price of our short-sighted fiscal priorities? Have we become so numbed to the plight of others, so self-centered that the concept of the common good has completely disappeared from public discourse?
It is truly a matter of values. The drastic and many would say immoral cuts being proposed will have far-reaching consequences. If you care about people, these cuts will increase suffering. If you care about dollars, these cuts will lead to even greater costs. Care will be shifted to more expensive services.
As a person of faith, I pray we will reorder our priorities, seek a broader redistribution of wealth and look for cost savings and increased revenues in other areas. As Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”
Mary Ellen Quinn
Winterport
Greg Cyr–Pros and cons of Angus Kings tenure as governor notwithstanding, I find it impossible to give him serious credence as a candidate until he has answered the question regarding who he will caucus with if he is elected. At this point, the choice is Mitch McConnell or Harry Reid. This choice has the potential to steer our national discourse wildly from one direction to the other and it must be made.
Mr. King?
It is already determined. Though no announcement has been made, he has already frozen out any real Democrat now he is going for the middle ground…. Politics… He’s a Democrat. Ruled as one as Governor and will as a Senator..
We will lose the mountains of Maine if this leech is allowed the senatorial seat.
Given the current Republican leadership, was there a doubt?
Anyone sane at this point caucuses with the democrats. There really isn’t a choice anymore since the Teahadists took over the other party.
Mary Ellen Quinn–The budget slashing being perpetrated by the current majority in Maine government is driven primarily by ideology, not financial concerns. It is of the utmost importance that we weaken the stranglehold the republicans have when we head to the polls this november.
MARY,
As a person of faith you should know that God’s word commands us to work, not to covet, cheat,ect, and this is what our welfare system has become. Charity begins at home, not in Washington or some state capital. Help those you wish, but don’t expect the redistribution of wealth to occur on the backs of the working class.
No God would distribute the wealth as we have and no person of faith would consider someone a freeloader.
I agree, guess there are not many persons of faith as I suspected.
No God would support the GOP greed, nor willingness to get rid of regulations in order to rape God’s great Earth to make a buck. God would frown upon all of you who judge others. You know that’s his job, not yours. And God would care about and be tolerant of ALL of his people. Accordingly, GOD would never be a Republican today!
Other than the overused, oft misinterpreted Thessalonians quote, please cite other examples for your thesis.
Good, then I hope you are lobbying your right wing friends in government to stop the welfare for the oil companies and other corporations which they receive through unnecessary taxpayer subsidies. And I hope you are lobbying hard to end the welfare of the many corporate no-bid contracts, especially war machine contracts. And I hope you are lobbying to reduce the military industrial complex welfare which eats more of our tax dollars than it ever has in history. And I hope you are lobbying to end the welfare for the rich, including the trust fund babies, that allows them a huge array of job killing tax loopholes including the ability to hide billions in investment income offshore creating NO jobs here and milking off investment income tax rates that are HALF of what the rest of us in the middle class pay. I hope you will put your ACTION where your MOUTH is, end the sickening right wing hyprocrisy once and for all, and actually apply your rhetoric across the board without just constantly bashing the poor and workers as you worship at the alter of your corporate masters.
The poor are not the problem. Progressive government programs that have kept the poor from helping themselves and often have made poverty continue from one generation to the next are.
This redistribution of wealth that you speak of has already happened on the backs of the working class. Get out much ?
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. … But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall hunger” (Luke 6:20-25)
“Give to everyone who begs from you” (Luke 6:30).
“Be compassionate, as your Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36).
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned” (Luke 6:37).
“Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21, and Luke 18:22).
“All the believers were together and owned everything in common. They sold property and possessions and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44-45).
“There was not a needy person among them, because as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of of what was sold, and laid it at the feet of the Apostles; and distribution was made to each as any had need” (Acts 4:34-35).
“Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5).
“If a brother or sister is ill-clad and is in lack of daily food, and one of you says, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:15-17).
Mary Ellen Quinn – wonderful sentiments and I wholeheartedly agree that our priorities are entirely out of whack. I wouldn’t expect things to change for the better however as the top 1% who control everything do seem to like perpetual war, outsourcing jobs, tax havens in the Caymans, and unbridled greed at the expense of everyone else. This new generation of rich who are assuming power have never been tempered by anything like the previous generations were(WWII, Korea,Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam) and they seem to have a total indifference to the suffering of their fellow citizens. Their priority seems to be returning to a feudal system where the few have everything and the rest of us eke out a meager living if we’re lucky. They are pathological in their disregard for the 99% and they own all the media, controlling most of what we see, read, and hear. The people are in a very tough spot, tougher than most realize, and we need to figure out how to respond to our self appointed overlords and their continous propaganda campaign perpetrated through Rupert Murdoch’s minions…Kind of pathetic that so many “real Americans” are totally told what to think and believe by a ” foreigner”
Even more pathetic that they believe it!
Mary Ellen, the Bible states in 2Thess that if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. If we had followed that simple mandate years ago rather than hand it out so willingly to those who have no intention of ever working, we would have an abundance of money to help those who now desperately need it. God has richly blessed this nation. You only need to read the postings here to see how far astray we’ve gone. God has been abundantly patient with us. I for one think that has come to and end. If we as a nation don’t turn our hearts back to Him, it’s only a matter of time before we self destruct.
cp444:
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the lord – Lev 1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Do you think I should smite them?
(with thanks to James M. Kauffman, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia)
LOL, you should have printed all of Kauffman’s article. It hilariously points out the stupidity that prosperity will return once we start obeying god and thumping the bible once again.
Other writings, esepcially in Acts, contradict this quote from Thessalonians.
I’ll see your verse and I’ll raise you, as they say in poker:
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9) — spoken by Cain after he murdered his brother. God’s reply is “your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground, and now you are cursed” (Gen. 4:10-11) We are, indeed, our brother’s keeper.
“Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien” (Leviticus 19:10).
“If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you” (Leviticus 25:35).
“If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother” (Deut. 15:7).
“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor” (1 Sam. 2:8).
“Who is like you, O LORD? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them” (Psalm 35:10).
“I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy” (Psalm 140:12).
“He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 17:5).
“He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done” (Proverbs 19:17).
“Better is a poor man who walks with integrity than a rich man who is perverse in his ways” (Proverbs 28:6).
“He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses” (Proverbs 28:27).
“Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:19).
“What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 3:15).
“Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (Isaiah 58:7).
“This was the sin of your sister, the city of Sodom: She was arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49).
“What does the Lord require of thee? It is to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
“Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor” (Zechariah 7:10).
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
“Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:23-24 and Mark 10:24-25).
“For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me” (Matt. 25:42-43).
“God has pulled down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up the humble; he has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty” — Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Luke 1:52-53.
Jesus, at the outset of his ministry, opened the book of Isaiah in the synagogue, and read to the congregation: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set free those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord!” This scripture provided the theme for Jesus’ entire ministry. (Luke 4:18-19)
“Blessed are you who are poor, for your is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who
hunger now, for you will be satisfied. … But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall hunger” (Luke 6:20-25).
“Give to everyone who begs from you” (Luke 6:30).
“Be compassionate, as your Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36).
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned” (Luke 6:37).
“Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me” (Luke 18:22).
“All the believers were together and owned everything in common. They sold property and possessions and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44-45).
“There was not a needy person among them, because as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of of what was sold, and laid it at the feet of the Apostles; and distribution was made to each as any had need” (Acts 4:34-35).
“Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5).
“If a brother or sister is ill-clad and is in lack of daily food, and one of you says, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:15-17).
Who have you identified as “having no intention of ever working”? I’m betting you ruthlessly includes all of the poor, all of those with diseases that have no outward physical appearance, all of those with mental handicaps, all of those with psychological problems and last of all, all of those unemployed because the mills shut down but are unable to sell out and move.
Great nations are not built on the kind of inhumanity and intolerance you and your god appear to believe in. If you want a prosperous and progressive s society you might want to consider a less harsh, judgmental and censorious god.
What? No answer? I gave you thirty verses/passages to your one. You’re not generally this quiet.
hold on – they are probably still reading….
Mary Ellen Quinn, your letter and quote of MLK brought back memories of when I was a child in Philadelphia. This was before the boom in the suburbs. Most major shopping was done in center city and virtually everywhere you looked there were beggers on the streets. Amputees moving about on 4 wheel dollies, blind people, etc.
Greg Cyr, I remember Governor King making motorcycle tours of the state and visiting Washington county. I credit him with bringing some of our roads up from the level of billy goat paths to at least drivable. It would be refreshing to have someone in Washington who would at least be willing to look at problems first hand and do something about them.
Guy Bourrie, I agree. From what I have read, Finland has been doing a fantastic job educating their children. They also seem to hold their teachers in high esteem. I frankly don’t see that happening with the current power group in Augusta. I believe that they are wired to privatization of our schools. Not for want of improving our childrens education. More for improving the bottom line of some private for profit entities.
Wait ’til the ‘online’ charter schools hit Maine. The money will flow out Maine like the Kennebec at flood stage.
I saw Angus King at the Sabbath Day Pond swimming hole. lol If you’ve ever been there you know what I mean. rothfmfao!
Notice I wasn’t laughing.
GOP: we don’t need no damn safety net. We got ours. Too bad so sad if you don’t. Just die and save us a few more pennies on our taxes.
The problem is not the safety net. It is the safety hammock that is the problem.
Can Cheney spell, “ground swell?
“As a person of faith, I pray we will reorder our priorities, seek a broader redistribution of wealth and look for cost savings and increased revenues in other areas”.
Ms. Quinn,
With all due repect, I am not sure what faith has to do with taking from the rich or working class and giving to the poor. I feel a major problem is that we are taxed to death as a nation and the working class has been robbed for years. Enough is enough. The system is broken. There are way too many promises made without any gold or assetts backing it up. That is scary. Both sides are guilty of empty promises.
I would like to think that regardless of party affiliation anyone would see that continually drawing water from the same well will eventually make that well go dry.
You have your talking points and so do us republicans. I can’t convince you to see it my way and you can’t me yours. We both have facts on both sides that validate our argument supporting our beliefs. There is clearly a fundamental different perspective on what is needed for our country to prosper. It takes place at the water cooler, the planning board, State, regional and National level. This country has become so divided that even congress can’t act. We had to develop a “super committee” to try to end the gridlock. That didn’t even work.
I don’t know what the solution is but I can’t help but think we must plan to agree to disagree on some levels and both sides must make compromise on issues that go against their own personal beliefs.
To say that either party wants to see children, families or anyone starving in the street or not having the resources to live or build the American dream is false. We all want everyone to have equal opportunities, success, wealth. As a person of faith you and I both believe that God created us all equal. Neither side I have seen clearly represents a more humanitarian side even though both claim their points and systems are best for the people.
We can exhaust the same old talking points but until we decide that what we are currently using for a system doesn’t work, and we need to rebuild a system that does, that both parties are going to give consent to, I think we are going to be in a stand still for a long time. Unfortunately, this stand still effects the ones that need the help the most. I for one would be willing to negotiate some of my values in exchange for a sytem the American people of all classes can count on.
We’ll see.
Who was the last person in America who died paying taxes since we are taxed to death?
Could you start with easier questions? lol.
We all die paying taxes, but taxes don’t cause death. “It is the heart that kills us in the end.” –Emmylou Harris
Excellent point…please. Really?
My point exactly why progress will be so difficult to overcome. Until we work like adults, for our children and generations to come on the big picture, not the personal agendas and trivial attacks expect a downward spiral. To me, I am fine financially and have plenty of resources parked in enough areas that I can’t spend all I have earned, wisely anyway. I would like to leave the generations after me with better opportunites than the ones I had.
To answer your silly question, that was a figure of speech. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had a heart attack at some point in time when they received their tax bill. You might find it interesting that not all of us “get money back” or “get a refund” on April 15th. I have been writing a check to the IRS and State of Maine for over 30 years.
So in other words you were engaging in hyperbole and lack real world examples of great pain caused to people from paying taxes? Great, I will be concerned about your poor little feelings about taxes as soon as there are no more people starving to death in America; no more people dying because of lack of health care; no more people freezing to death because of lack of money to pay for heat in America. Once we have solved all those problems we can worry about you feeling you are overtaxed.
You paint a very good picture of who you are. Best wishes. LOL.
Interesting on Angus King. Ask Limestone how they felt about former Gov King’s position on the Magnet school. Ask former Gov King about his position on salmon issue in Aroostook county. Aroostook is a moral conservative county. Ask former Gov King on his position on moral issues. Please spare me. Take a close look at the Republican US senate candidates. Candidates record will speak for themselves.
School for Magnates?
Guy, you are right that breaks need to be put on. Here we have yet another “fashion” in education. And please be careful also to not use too broad a brush saying today’s system is “industrial” and “worn out” and all that. We currently have schools FULL of all manner of diverse teaching methodologies. Some more traditional, others more group and activity-based, etc. within a wide array of programming. Education today CURRENTLY looks much different than it did in past decades with the advent of technology, many curriculum and standards updates in recent years, and diversity of instructional approaches. And indeed, in some cases, “traditional” approaches are NECESSARY. There needs to be some structure in order, for example, to make sure kids have certain foundations and basic skills and knowledge. Once solid bases are laid, then extentions methods are used to APPLY those skills in all manner of ways. Educational approaches need to be eclectic, and there is no silver bullet. Good classroom management, order and discipline in the school and classroom based on a culture of serious learning and high expectations in the school and also where there is a well skilled and caring staff and many things for kids to say YES to are the ingredients for educational success. Enough though of constantly bashing education and constanatly trying to reinvent the wheel with some latest fashion in teaching that may well not have much value in actual practice. MUCH is being done RIGHT already, and we overall have a GOOD system in Maine with TONS of great things happening all the time including many new and modernized programs and teaching approaches. Again, enough of this narrative that there is so much wrong with education. MUCH is RIGHT. Look at the schools that are already successful, and see what they are doing RIGHT even without all these latest instructional FASHIONS. Yes, we should always explore ways to improve. But let’s not dismiss all that is already being done WELL, and let’s also stop this crazy search for some silver bullet program that does not exist. Education is a VERY complex process, and there is no one silver bullet, especially something like “standards-based” education without levels or grades and which is NOT working well in many places and which is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to implement in its ideal form in large classroom education. The better approach, and the DOABLE approach is as I’ve said: the right school/classroom culture and teachers using a DOABLE mix of approaches over time to address various learning styles. But a teacher with 25 kids in a room for a 45 minute high school class or upper middle school class can’t be expected to teach 25 different lessons at 25 differnt paces. And grades provide incentive, and, if done right (not tons of points for participation or whatever), they correlate well with mastery of the material. You will find that grades done right also correlate well with standardized test scores. Kids who are slower should be in classes to address those special needs, and kids who are advanced need to be in classes to address THOSE special needs. But you can’t expect a teacher to go to a “self-paced” model and move ALL kids through a mandated district curriculum within the time alloted to teach. Not possible. Not manageable. Not really doable in large classroom teaching. It would be more doable if ALL teachers at ALL levels had 15 kids on one room all day long and very flexible scope and sequence in the curriculum. But not middle and high school level teachers assigned 80 to 120 kids blasting through their classrooms all day period to period. Just not doable. Already I am hearing nightmare scenarios of teachers trying to do this and it is horrible. In one case, the kids are expected to watch a video of the instruction on their own at night, and then they work on self-paced “homework” in the classroom, and this is at the K-5 level. The teacher is actually doing LESS real TEACHING and more MONITORING and GIVING POINTERS to kids if they are seen making mistakes, and many kids aren’t watching the videos. It’s a mess. You need some WHOLE CLASS instruction, and some WHOLE CLASS discussion and participation and learning from each other through that process in the mix.
Mary Ellen Quinn- To quote a distant relative of mine, Teddy Roosevelt, “America can only be a great place to live if it is a little great for everyone”.
A lot of Republicans have forgotten that.
Keep it up with the great comments, always fun to read….
Mary Ellen Quinn
You start out with a version of the liberal talking point, ” in a society that has such abundance”.
Th problem is that the abundance you refer to is an illusion. It existed at one time but all that is left is the pretty exterior.
Let me put it another way that most people can understand. You have a neighbor. He has a good job, makes a lot of money. He has a big new house, swimming pool, 3 new cars, snowmobiles, ATV’s including 1 for each of the kids. They wear the newest fashions, take VERY expensive vacations to exotic places every year. Then you find out that he is in serious financial trouble. He has multiple credit cards, all maxed out and he can only pay the minimum every month. All the toys are bought on credit and the bank actually owns everything. He has no savings, no retirement plans, no investments. In fact, the last time you were out together he had to borrow a buck to buy a Pepsi….
This is a very wealthy country. The distribution of money is more and more in the hands of fewer and fewer people. By anyone’s measure that is not a good thing.
I have an interesting theory: Maybe the reason wealth is so concentrated is because we have so many people willing to live on government largesse– which is not so very large at all–rather than jump into the great American Pie and carve out their slice. If too many people sit around waiting for their slice of pie, the contest will be won by those willing to get up and gobble their own pieces.
That is a theory. Wondering if you have paid any mind to public policies that contribute to individuals and companies abilities to amass and hoard enormous amounts of wealth.
I have seen that there are programs to help needy folks that could be better designed and managed but I do not believe that overall safety nets are harmful to our fellow citizens. Considering the great recession that the country is slowly digging itself out of, I am grateful for the limited help that remains available to those in need.
I would suggest that better public schools and a more fair tax policy would go a long way in improving people’s lot in life.
You have a ‘beef’ with lazy people and they are surely out there, but in the scheme of things they are a tiny number. You do a real disservice by painting so many with your disparaging brush.
.. yet that is the GOP platform.. paint everyone that disagrees with them with the nasty brush… if people do not tow the line then they are to be vilified…. the GOP uses the prejudices of this country to their advantage, just like they do by pandering to the religious right.. so much hate speech about the unfortunate…. certainly, there are the lazy out there.. but are there enough to create the financial collapse they get blamed for… when one person has all the jacks, it seems a but unfair to blame those without for slowing down the game….
I don’t have a beef with lazy people. I am stupendously lazy :) But I do have a problem with the pervasive spread of people who accept a subsistence existence on government assistance. I don’t think welfare folks are sitting pretty. Welfare benefits are not so great. But so many people seem to be willing to adjust their lives and expectations to the welfare level while at the same time crying out against the wealthy. The wealthy are not necessarily the sole oppressors. Government and our own individual lack of “gumption” are also holding us down.
I still believe America is the land of opportunity.
There are without a doubt those that enjoy, and even relish the idea that they get over on the government . I’ve met some. They are a very, very small percentage.
I have to differ on what I assume was slip. There is no “Distribution” in our country. You earn what you earn.Those in need, whether it be the elderly, those with a mental illness or physically handi-helpful, or whatever the appropriate term is this week should be the first priority with and understanding that addiction seldom, if ever occurs in a vacuum ,and that they are in need of facilitation, not just methadone, suboxone, or A.A.
I understand why people are upset because others are making money just pushing numbers around. But as long as what that person does is legal ,then if most were honest they’d certainly trade places with them.
Mr. Bourrie, if we go any slower on education reform, we risk sliding backwards. A little forward momentum is not a bad thing.
Greg Cyr has shown one side of Angus King.
Here is another;
http://tinyurl.com/ces7y66
Ms Quinn asks, “Have we become so numbed to the plight of others, so self-centered that the concept of the common good has completely disappeared from public discourse?”
According to ALEX, LePage and the TeaParty I’d say the answer is an unequivocal, “Yes”.
I agree Guy there is no simple solution. Ideas such as longer school days are shouted down. And if I asked for a standardized test who the heck would it be standardized to?
I was speaking to a young man today, who was dealing with a young lady at work who just started, and yet expected to move right by others up the company ladder. This young lady has become a cliche. Kids expect to start at the top. They don’t feel as though they should have to work for it. I don’t see it ever getting any better. I honestly fear for the future of our country.
By the way, is there any more popular major then graphic design? I get it, do what you WANT, that’s a good thing. But don’t expect to find a job when everybody wants to be the same thing.
Maybe they have to beg because their “advocates” are skimming so much off of the top’ A million dollars to “administer” LIHEP. How much at MSHA to fund massages, luxury hotel vacations and free gift cards instead of affordable housing? The welfare/government complex has grown so large and handed out so much to so many that Maine can not afford it any more. If you can’t see the thousands of able bodied 20 somethings milking the system with the complete approval of their “advocates” then you’re walking around with your eyes closed.
What happened to the letters for today, Friday, April 30th?