funjumper101

A voucher system will make bad schools much worse by removing those students who have parents that actually care about the education their child receives. The conservatives always seem to see things in black and white. No shades of gray, just black and white. A school has bad test scores = the teachers and the administrators are at fault. Removing funding and motivated students will improve the schools.... how? By making the education for those remaining worse. Eventually it will be so bad that the school will be closed. Just exactly how do you close a public school? What replaces it and how? Who pays? People who are in the system have provided valubale insight. Re-read what has been posted and thnk hard about what the reality as, as opposed to the popular perception. The general public tends to think of skydivers as crazy lunatics who are totally irresponsible. It is what "everybody knows is true". We have a death wish and so on and so forth. Those of us who jump know a lot more about skydiving and view the sport much differently. A prime example of perception and reality.

Nice to someone who knows the real situation post some facts. Contray to popular opinion, teachers are minimally responsible for student success or failure. It is more about the student and the parents. In case you didn't know it, special needs kids get tested like everyone else. Their scores count just like a regular student. Skews the numbers quite a bit, at some schools.

Very well stated. I expected a bit more discussion on this point. Curious Not much to discuss, for skydivers. I can't think of many that I have come across that were in favor of the PC BS.

It's on my Tivo. I'll get to it this weekend.

I watched this episode last night. Bolton totally made an ass out of himself when Jon Stewart brought up President Lincoln. Even my wife was floored by Bolton's ignorance of Lincoln's presidency. She's a Brit and didn't come to the USA until she was in her 20s. She knows enough about Lincoln's presidency to know that Bolton was completely clueless. In general, Bolton showed what an arrogant asshole he is. I'll give him credit for having the 'nads to show up at all. I don't think he'll go again. It might be on YouTube. It is worth seeing.

(this one's so easy I almost feel guilty) Didn't they try to impeach Clinton for confidential communications with his staff? Ahh, did you happen to catch the Washington (com)Posts editorial today? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007032101974.html Maybe you should . Hell, even this left wing rag has it correct. Add to this that the Dems on the committe have publicaly said that no crime has been commited and you still think this is all legit? You believe that it is fine for a Republican controlled Congress to compel sworn testimony from a Democratic administration over important issues like Christmas cards and travel office staffing. At the same time, you hold that a Democratically controlled Congress has no business at all compelling sworn testimony from a Republican adminstration over what is, to most citizens, a really important issue. The word for this is - hypocrisy A very consistent behavior pattern for Bushies.

Clinton was disbared because he lied under oath. You loose this one. and Libby is where he is because of an out of control justice dept and I think you know as well as anyone he should not be in this situation. But you can't admit it because of your position.....sad Time to look in the mirror. Who is running the Justice department right now? I agree with you that it is an "out of control justice dept". Firing US Attorneys that don't toe the party line is an action that an "out of control justice dept" would do.

Why would they? They don't seem to have a problem with OEMs providing even older drivers for new hardware. I think that they'll force it because if people can use Win2000 or XP on new hardware they might choose a mature, stable (more or less) operating system, instead of v1.0 of a Microsoft product. No money for Microsoft in that scenario. In theory, if you blow away your old system, you can transfer the OS license to a new system. No revenue for Microsoft there. If there are no drivers, you can't do this. Probably not really 100% legit, but close enough for those that actually "try" to maintain license compliance.

It is difficult, but not impossible to fire an incompetent/bad teacher. What is required is proper documentation of the errors and failings, and the proper documentation of failure to correct same. The administrators are usually too lazy/incompetent to manage professionally, so the bad teachers stay until retirement. There is a funny saying that is painfully true- Those that can, do, Those that can't, teach, those that can't teach, become administrators. Every day I see teachers that, for whatever reason, are on the bad side of their principals. What happens is that the administrators assign the worst students to the teachers they don't like. This means that the worst students end up together in the same class, with long term bad results. Think about this - in the private sector, the board of directors for an organization is usually composed of people who have experience in running successful businesses. They have expertise in many areas like HR, budgeting, resource allocation, etc. In a public school district, the qualification to be a School Board member is that you can win a local election, aka, popularity contest. In my experience this has far more to do with the success or failure of the schools than the teachers or administrators. Involved parents are the other part of the equation.

I work for a public school district. I have for almost nine years. Before that I spent a long time in SiliValley. Working at a school district has been a real eye opener. Now that I know a lot more about how public schools really operate, I have to say that their is a lot of room for improvement. However... Can some of you fervent supporters of school vouchers and using government funds for private schools answer a simple question? It is a really easy question. How does reducing the resources available to a "failing school" improve the situation? In other words, if a school is "failing", how does reducing the amount of money and training available for the staff improve things?

Clinton fired 93 US Attorneys upon taking office. That is fact. It is possible to overcome ignorance by education. Please review how many US Attorneys were fired by Bush1 upon taking office. Please review how many US Attorneys were fired by Bush2 upon taking office. Then look at Carter, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, etc, until you figure out what the truth actually is. Go back as far as you have to. Nice repetition of the Republican talking point. As usual, once all of the facts are known, the talking point is clearly a distortion and half truth. But it does come from the Republicans, so for some, it it unquestionable true. Actually he fired a 120. The 93 were just in one wave that included investigators of White Water, Rostenkowki and others. But Clintons firings were not political. But of course Bushes are Nice partial answer. Do the rest of the research and post again. Here is a short summary of reality. All US Attorneys are replaced when the Repubs are replaced by Dems, or vice versa. Political? Yes. Nefarious and evil? Only when Dems do it, according to some people. Firing many US Attorneys 1/2 way through a second term for clearly partisan political reasons never happened before. Why? Because it wasn't possible until the Rescumlicans snuck the provision into the "patriot act" at the last second. You know, the provision that the Senate voted 92-2 to strike down. Media loves the Dems? You forgot the ;-) or the . That is so far from the truth it would be laughable, if it wasn't so scary. Makes a great sound bite, though. Saying a lie over and over again doesn't make it true. Even if it is a great sound bite.

You don't get a choice. You can't buy XP licenses from any OEMs any more. You WILL get Vista, like it or not. Make sure that you specify, in writing, that the laptop that you buy must have full support for XP. I predict that Microsoft will soon force OEMs to not provide XP drivers for new hardware.

Clinton fired 93 US Attorneys upon taking office. That is fact. It is possible to overcome ignorance by education. Please review how many US Attorneys were fired by Bush1 upon taking office. Please review how many US Attorneys were fired by Bush2 upon taking office. Then look at Carter, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, etc, until you figure out what the truth actually is. Go back as far as you have to. Nice repetition of the Republican talking point. As usual, once all of the facts are known, the talking point is clearly a distortion and half truth. But it does come from the Republicans, so for some, it it unquestionable true.

Absolutely wrong. They are supposed to be confirmed by the senate. These US attorneys are being replaced and not being subject to senate confirmation by using a provision in the Patriot Act. That is the problem completely. If they really deserved to be fired, they could have just done so for cause and gone through the process of confirming a replacement. They chose not to do so. Why? Because they were not firing for cause, but for politics. You are mixing two issues at hand. The Patriot Act allowed the AG to place prosecutors without Senate oversight. For the prosecutors that are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, it is the President alone that can dismiss them outright. Congressional action would require an impeachment. What all the hub-bub is about, and the way it's being played in the press, is that 8 prosecutors were fired, not how they were replaced. The Senate has taken care of that today. Senate oversight is now required. The deed is done, the rest is fluff. "not being subject to senate confirmation by using a provision in the Patriot Act" that was slipped in, in conference, at the last second, by the Republicans who were in control of Congress at the time. A complete and utter misuse of power. I am happy to see that you are coming around to realizing that Congressional oversight is long overdue. 47 top Clinton Administration officials were subpoenaed to testify under oath in front of the Republican controlled Congress. The equivalent of Rove (I forget the name) was subpoenaed more than once, IIRC. ShrubCo doesn't have a leg to stand on as far as trying to prevent the subpoenas that will be out today or tomorrow. If Rove, et al, were planning to be truthful and honest, why are they trying their hardest to avoid testifying publicly under oath? Is it possible that they have something to hide? After all, this administration is reknowned for their honesty and candor... NOT. Did you ever figure out who Lamm is and what she accomplished? Does the connection between her accomplishments and her termination become obvious, upon further review? Her termination severely crippled the ongoing investigation. 7-1 Democratic to Republican investigations by the "unbiased" US Attorneys. Do you believe that this glaring disparity was an accident?

It still doesn't matter. It is the perogative of the President. There is no scandal. President Carter did it to a guy mid-term. It happened under President Clinton too. There is no scandal here. The Congressional vote is simply guys refusing to grow a pair and move to real business. Congress, since the election, has consistently side-stepped real work to focus on discrediting a leader whom no one is running against in 2008. You may think that there is no scandal here. Will you feel the same way in 2014 if a Democratic president decides to do the same thing, the same way, for the same reasons? The majority of the people who keep up on current events realize that this is a scandal. A major scandal. One that reaches up into the top levels of the Bush administration. One that is a clear demonstration of serious ethical shortcomings, at best. The facts of how these firings happened are pretty sickening. Do you honestly believe that firing Lamm was an appropriate action? Do you know who I am talking about? Do you know what she accomplished? Do you know what her firing greatly impeded? Now that the Republicans aren't in control of Congress anymore, you are beginning to see real checks and balances in action. If you haven't been around for a long time and lived through several administrations, you likely aren't used to it. Contrary to recent history, Congress is not supposed to be a "rubber stamp" for the President. You might want to brush up your civics knowlege and read the US constitution yourself. It is a fascinating document. The Founding Fathers were very amazing people. Holding a Presidential administration to account for their methods of government is EXACTLY what Congress is supposed to do. For the last six years it didn't happen. Now it is. It is about time. There is six years of oversight to complete in less than two years. I am extremely sorry that you have yet to realize the full extent of the lies, dishonor, and compete lack of ethics of the Bush administration. As the Congressional investigations continue, the facts will come out. I am fully aware of your service to our country and what it has cost you. I thank you for serving our country.

Where are all the right wing ShrubCo defenders? Isn't this type of treatment of "enemy combatants" completely justified, according to your world views? Who cares that Padilla is a US citizen, as an "enemy combatant", he has NONE of the rights of normal, non-accused citizens, correct? Right Wing ShrubCo supporters are MIA. Gee, I wonder why? Could it be that this type of treatment of a US citizen is completely and totally indefensable? Yeah, that must be it. Right...

No, not to defend Foley, just to show that dems don't really care about what Foley did, they only care about taking advantage of it. In other words, you think the Democrats are using Rescumlican tactics with great success. I can see why that would be quite annoying to righties.

Lisa, Thanks for all your hard work at making the boogie come together. I had a great time and met a whole lot of really cool people. Many thanks to Dave for the aircraft support. The Caravan showing up was a fine capper to a great weekend. To all that traveled to the Central Coast, thanks for coming. A great boogie happened because you all made the effort to show up.

I'll bring some extension cords and a blender.

I can bring a blender for the drinks. Anyone up for pina coladas? How about margaritas? What time are people arriving? Anyone stoked for superb sushi and Japanese food? We can make a reservation at Goshi's. It is about 2 miles from the six. Whatever you do, don't eat at Big Bubba's Bad Barbecue. The food is pretty bad. For once, the name of a resturant accurately describes the food.

Lisa PMed me about the camping situation at Star Farms. The short version is that Star Farms is rented out for Friday night, to another group. No camping on Friday night. As of a few months ago, my wife had planned to be out of town this weekend. I told her that I was going to offer camping at our property if Star Farms fell through. She was fine with that as she was going to be out of town. Now she isn't going and Star Farms is booked. She doesn't want a bunch of skydivers camping on our property while she is here. Not an option, totally refused, etc. Quite a bitch about it, too. I am not happy with her at all. I feel like (and I guess I am) a real heel for letting Lisa and the rest of the group down. There are a couple of the east coast folks who were to borrow some of my camping gear. I have PMed the details of how I can take care of them. How many people were planning on camping Friday night? I can make arrangements if the numbers aren't large. There are quite a few places to camp in this area. I'll go reserve a site or two on Friday, during the day, if it works out to being the right answer. I'll do whatever it takes to make this work out for everyone. Let me know what I can do to help.

Tandems might be popular. How much for a tandem?

Any news on getting some of these Tshirts back into production? If a retail outlet in needed, I'll step up and volunteer. I use eBay and have a good feedback rating. I would sell them on DZ.com as well.

I started jumping in California in 1983. The term was in use then. Also known as "fun jumper". Usually someone who has more than 100 jumps and was current.

in recent polls 60% oppose the war, 60% disapprove of Bush, ... get the picture? 60% will oppose any pro-war candidate. As a pro-war guy not backed by any party Lieberman is dead in the water Polls aren't worth the paper their gathered on. Remember all the exit polls in 2004? My point was that primaries only draw out a small percentage of the registered voters of a particular party to begin with. While the CT primary brought out "record" numbers, it was still only a drop in the bucket compared to what turns out on the actual election. Also, Lieberman shaved the margin down from double digits down to something less than 4%. Lieberman may still draw the non-fringe-left, and some centrist Republicans who don't see the right-aisle candidate as viable as an independent. It's happened more than once in CT's neighbor, Vermont. The facts about exit polls are well documented. They ARE extremely accurate when honest elections take place. The great disparity between the exit polls in 2000 and 2004 are the direct result of election fraud. It may be convenient to believe the spinmeisters, but they are lying. You really should research the subject with an open mind. The documented proof is undeniable. The people of the USA have come to realize that the war in Iraq was and continues to be really bad policy. We can take back the goverment from these liars and thieves. And we will. The process has started. It will continue.