JH - Your description of the employer / employee payment process for health care is valid in some cases but not all. Some companies will compensate you for the full cost, some for a portion of the cost , and some will not compensate the employee for any of the costs if they deny the company offered healthcare option. My wife and I have worked for major international corporations to small businesses and neither of us have experienced what you describe. My wife did receive a stipend from one company because she denied coverage on her company's plan because she was on mine. I have never received any compensation when I denied coverage. I have also been in senior management positions and the idea of full compensation was never discussed in the budgeting process.
YES it absolutley is needed! A quality athletics program is an outstanding marketing tool that will bring more interest in the school which will bring more money to build up current and future academic programs. . There are donors that will give funds to academic initiatives but many will only give it to high profile programs like athletics. As much as we may or may not agree wth that, it is reality. Accept the funds, build the programs, and find ways the initiative can incresae acaemics thorough other means. IMHO
Part 3 (last part . . . THX)
find it disturbing that some people believe that the ONLY answer to this problem is more guns.
Banning all firearms is NOT the answer, which is exactly why it's not being proposed. This country has enacted laws that didn't work before, so they've been revised, repealed, reformed, etc. It's ludicrous to think that as a society, we evolve, but the laws governing us cannot? The NRA states that the assault weapons ban didn't work the first time. Well, you know what they say, "If at first you don't succeed, f%k it.".
If armed guards are the only answer to ending school shootings, then explain the VT shooting. Virginia Tech had an entire police department complete with a SWAT unit. Explain Columbine, which had an armed officer on staff. When discussing an end to gun violence in schools, there should be NOTHING left off of the table.
Ronald Reagan, a huge gun proponent and signor of the Brady Bill, wrote to Congress in 1994 asking them to propose legislation limiting or stopping altogether the manufacture of guns classified as assault weapon. And anyone saying "assault weapon" is a made up term should remember that every word in every language is, in fact, made up.
And yes, criminals don't typically obey laws, but we still have them. Can you use that logic to say there should be none at all? No.
Let me be clear, I am NOT anti gun. I have nothing against guns or responsible gun owners. I served proudly in the military, I worked in armed security, I've hunted, and enjoy target shooting since I was a kid. And I'm sure most gun enthusiasts are the same way. However, this issue should be discussed logically and rationally, and all I see are comments and pictures that are anything but rational and for the most part, are just viral, inflammatory, unresearched, vitriol.
The president enacted 23 executive actions today, of which only 2 have anything to do with limiting the availability of a category of gun or a magazine capacity. The remaining 21 deal with aspects regarding background checks, school safety and mental health system requirements and deficiencies. Will it be a perfect solution? No. Will it help? We'll see. Is it better than doing nothing? Definitely. If we keep using the statement, "It's too soon to talk about it." after each tragedy, pretty soon, we'll never talk about it.
OK, so maybe it ended up closer to $2.00 instead of 2 cents. So sue me."
Part 2 -
"
Fourth, there are not more people being killed with baseball bats than guns. If you disagree with that because you saw a picture stating otherwise on the internet, then I would like to offer you the chance to buy some oceanfront property in Arizona and I'll throw in the Brooklyn Bridge for free. There is no magical solution for solving the problem of gun violence. THAT is what we need to solve. http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/baseballbats.asp
We don't ban cars that are used in DUI related deaths, but we do enact regulations regarding blood alcohol limits, prosecute people who enable a drunk driver to operate a vehicle after serving them, promote a DUI campaign raising awareness and educating drivers on the dangers of driving while intoxicated. All of which has reduced DUI related fatalities by over 40% in a decade. http://www.centurycouncil.org/drunk-driving/drunk-driving-statistics
The media is not hiding other gun related stories because they want to sensationalize the problem, they are simply unable to cover every gun death story because there would be an average of 80 of them each day. So they concentrate (unfortunately) on the massacres which I think we can all agree, happen all too often.
I find the fact that more children are killed in the US by guns than in the entire Middle East region, very disturbing.
I find it disturbing that the NRA blames the rise in violent shootings on video games and then comes out with its own shooting video game (categorized for children as young as 4 years of age) less than a month after Newtown.
I find it disturbing that other countries spend in excess of twice as much as the US on violent video games and have a small fraction of the amount of gun related deaths/injuries.
I find it disturbing that instead of looking for a solution to a problem like Newtown, there are people wasting their time and energy by trying to turn it into a conspiracy theory.
I find it disturbing that guns are the third largest killer of children ages 5-14 in the US.
I find it disturbing that a child in America is 12 times more likely to be killed with a gun than the rest of the "developed" world.
I find it disturbing that there are more guns privately owned in America than the next SEVENTEEN countries combined.
I find it disturbing that all of these statistics are not discussed but fake statistics about a baseball bat death rate are plastered everywhere.
I
Taken from a person named Josh Fielder . . . interesting comments. Sorry its so long but an intereting point of view . . .
"*So, here's my two cents (which will end up being closer to $1.50 I'm sure) and I'm sure I will regret posting this later, due to the "friends" I will lose while exercising my First Amendment, but here goes.
Instead of posting a meme with a picture and a falsely attributed quote or a made up statistic, I've spent my time researching the gun violence/gun control debate. And I'd like to talk about some of the pervasive themes I've seen lately.
First off, Hitler did not say "In order to conquer a country, you must first disarm its citizens." In fact, Hitler made it his position to enable guns to be obtained more easily. http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/disarm.asp
Secondly, the presidents, and I mean ALL of them, and their families, receive death threats on a daily basis. President Obama did not enact the regulations that REQUIRE Secret Service protection for him and his family. If you believe your children are as much of a target as the president's children, then you have a self inflated idea of your position in this world. http://www.secretservice.gov/protection.shtml
Thirdly, there is NO law or bill being considered that would allow anyone to come marching into your home to take your legally obtained and legally owned firearms. There are possible laws that are being explored that would require more responsibility on the part of the gun owner or person purchasing a gun (i.e. pass a background check even if buying a gun from a gun show dealer). If you buy a car from a dealer it must be registered (a record of the transfer is documented). If you buy a car from a private citizen, it must be registered. If you buy a gun from a dealer, there is a record of that sale and it is registered. So how is it illogical to require the same for private sales of firearms?
Moon - I actually voted for Obama since most closely represented my views. My point was that even though I don't align with any party, I vote based on my values, not a party's platform. I also respect contrary views. I understand that caring, intelligent people can disagree w/o calling names. That only alienates and creates divided. As Blanchard said, "understand, then be understood!".
Moon - Without getting into the details (because when somebody expresses an opinion on this blog, somebody "shoots" them down with their opinion in child like maners) I was a fan of some of the Reagan and 1st Bush Whitehouses. Notice I said some . . . I also like some of the items that Obama stands for. I do not think any one party or philosophy can be right all the time as some on this site want us to believe. I am in favor of many "social" programs, I favor School choice issues, I favor respect for life from conception to natural death (including being against the death penalty), I favor an immigration plan that will allow the many good people that have been here for years to become citizens, I favor an enviroment that allows small business to thrive without too much government control, I favor a respect for our earth, I favor a world where there is incentive to be entreprenureal (?) efforts to create thriving businesses and industries, etc. These don't fit into a political party so I sit watching all the anger and disrespect for others as we prove we are right.
I continue to be perplexed about how good, intelligent people can be so divided to resort to elementary school playground behavior. It is so obvious, if you step back from your wanting to convince others that you are right, that facts are made up, trends are mis-interpreted, quotes are taken out of context, etc. This happens on both sides! This is all done to convince others (and maybe ourselves) that we are right. Example . . . one regular has made comments about the drop in the stock market being about Obama and yet when it is pointed out that the stock market is still much higher than it was when he took over, Obama's role in minimized. Another example . . . another poster continues to place the Reps as "criminal" when in reality the US needs many of the good thinkers in the Rep party. It would be funny if it wasn't so critical for us to work together on both sides.
I have recently read a book "The Rightious Mind - Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion". It is a great read but if you are trying to find data to support your philosophy, it isn't there, but it may open up your thinking as to why we defend our positions so adamently (sp?).
packwilleat - Thanks but I have been here for a few years. I come back occaisionally to see if anything has changed and the absolutists - "my way or the highway", "if you don't agree you are wrong" - will change. I guess not but sometines, like above with a few exceptions, there is honest, intelligent dialogue. I find it comical that some call others ignorant while making statements that are "kool aid" driven. I still maintin that umless we, the electorate, vote based on our own brains instead of party lines, we will not get righted regardless who is elected in November. I also maintain that unless we change, and if Romney is elected, the Dems will be calling for his head in 4 years. I do feel regardless of who is elected, the world is too complicated to expect one president to make major strides unless he or she gets support from the other side of the aisle. If Romney wins, I feel that some ignorant Dem will say that " our main objective these next 4 years is to make sure he doesn't get re-elected. Sound familiar? The madness will continue . . .
kiki 1 week, 1 day ago
Well Worth Reading
JH - Your description of the employer / employee payment process for health care is valid in some cases but not all. Some companies will compensate you for the full cost, some for a portion of the cost , and some will not compensate the employee for any of the costs if they deny the company offered healthcare option. My wife and I have worked for major international corporations to small businesses and neither of us have experienced what you describe. My wife did receive a stipend from one company because she denied coverage on her company's plan because she was on mine. I have never received any compensation when I denied coverage. I have also been in senior management positions and the idea of full compensation was never discussed in the budgeting process.
kiki 3 months, 3 weeks ago
SCC Planning Gym Expansion
YES it absolutley is needed! A quality athletics program is an outstanding marketing tool that will bring more interest in the school which will bring more money to build up current and future academic programs. . There are donors that will give funds to academic initiatives but many will only give it to high profile programs like athletics. As much as we may or may not agree wth that, it is reality. Accept the funds, build the programs, and find ways the initiative can incresae acaemics thorough other means. IMHO
kiki 4 months ago
Organizers Plan Gun Rally
Part 3 (last part . . . THX) find it disturbing that some people believe that the ONLY answer to this problem is more guns. Banning all firearms is NOT the answer, which is exactly why it's not being proposed. This country has enacted laws that didn't work before, so they've been revised, repealed, reformed, etc. It's ludicrous to think that as a society, we evolve, but the laws governing us cannot? The NRA states that the assault weapons ban didn't work the first time. Well, you know what they say, "If at first you don't succeed, f%k it.". If armed guards are the only answer to ending school shootings, then explain the VT shooting. Virginia Tech had an entire police department complete with a SWAT unit. Explain Columbine, which had an armed officer on staff. When discussing an end to gun violence in schools, there should be NOTHING left off of the table. Ronald Reagan, a huge gun proponent and signor of the Brady Bill, wrote to Congress in 1994 asking them to propose legislation limiting or stopping altogether the manufacture of guns classified as assault weapon. And anyone saying "assault weapon" is a made up term should remember that every word in every language is, in fact, made up. And yes, criminals don't typically obey laws, but we still have them. Can you use that logic to say there should be none at all? No. Let me be clear, I am NOT anti gun. I have nothing against guns or responsible gun owners. I served proudly in the military, I worked in armed security, I've hunted, and enjoy target shooting since I was a kid. And I'm sure most gun enthusiasts are the same way. However, this issue should be discussed logically and rationally, and all I see are comments and pictures that are anything but rational and for the most part, are just viral, inflammatory, unresearched, vitriol. The president enacted 23 executive actions today, of which only 2 have anything to do with limiting the availability of a category of gun or a magazine capacity. The remaining 21 deal with aspects regarding background checks, school safety and mental health system requirements and deficiencies. Will it be a perfect solution? No. Will it help? We'll see. Is it better than doing nothing? Definitely. If we keep using the statement, "It's too soon to talk about it." after each tragedy, pretty soon, we'll never talk about it. OK, so maybe it ended up closer to $2.00 instead of 2 cents. So sue me."
kiki 4 months ago
Organizers Plan Gun Rally
Part 2 - " Fourth, there are not more people being killed with baseball bats than guns. If you disagree with that because you saw a picture stating otherwise on the internet, then I would like to offer you the chance to buy some oceanfront property in Arizona and I'll throw in the Brooklyn Bridge for free. There is no magical solution for solving the problem of gun violence. THAT is what we need to solve. http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/baseballbats.asp We don't ban cars that are used in DUI related deaths, but we do enact regulations regarding blood alcohol limits, prosecute people who enable a drunk driver to operate a vehicle after serving them, promote a DUI campaign raising awareness and educating drivers on the dangers of driving while intoxicated. All of which has reduced DUI related fatalities by over 40% in a decade. http://www.centurycouncil.org/drunk-driving/drunk-driving-statistics The media is not hiding other gun related stories because they want to sensationalize the problem, they are simply unable to cover every gun death story because there would be an average of 80 of them each day. So they concentrate (unfortunately) on the massacres which I think we can all agree, happen all too often. I find the fact that more children are killed in the US by guns than in the entire Middle East region, very disturbing. I find it disturbing that the NRA blames the rise in violent shootings on video games and then comes out with its own shooting video game (categorized for children as young as 4 years of age) less than a month after Newtown. I find it disturbing that other countries spend in excess of twice as much as the US on violent video games and have a small fraction of the amount of gun related deaths/injuries. I find it disturbing that instead of looking for a solution to a problem like Newtown, there are people wasting their time and energy by trying to turn it into a conspiracy theory. I find it disturbing that guns are the third largest killer of children ages 5-14 in the US. I find it disturbing that a child in America is 12 times more likely to be killed with a gun than the rest of the "developed" world. I find it disturbing that there are more guns privately owned in America than the next SEVENTEEN countries combined. I find it disturbing that all of these statistics are not discussed but fake statistics about a baseball bat death rate are plastered everywhere. I
kiki 4 months ago
Organizers Plan Gun Rally
Taken from a person named Josh Fielder . . . interesting comments. Sorry its so long but an intereting point of view . . .
"*So, here's my two cents (which will end up being closer to $1.50 I'm sure) and I'm sure I will regret posting this later, due to the "friends" I will lose while exercising my First Amendment, but here goes. Instead of posting a meme with a picture and a falsely attributed quote or a made up statistic, I've spent my time researching the gun violence/gun control debate. And I'd like to talk about some of the pervasive themes I've seen lately. First off, Hitler did not say "In order to conquer a country, you must first disarm its citizens." In fact, Hitler made it his position to enable guns to be obtained more easily. http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/disarm.asp Secondly, the presidents, and I mean ALL of them, and their families, receive death threats on a daily basis. President Obama did not enact the regulations that REQUIRE Secret Service protection for him and his family. If you believe your children are as much of a target as the president's children, then you have a self inflated idea of your position in this world. http://www.secretservice.gov/protection.shtml Thirdly, there is NO law or bill being considered that would allow anyone to come marching into your home to take your legally obtained and legally owned firearms. There are possible laws that are being explored that would require more responsibility on the part of the gun owner or person purchasing a gun (i.e. pass a background check even if buying a gun from a gun show dealer). If you buy a car from a dealer it must be registered (a record of the transfer is documented). If you buy a car from a private citizen, it must be registered. If you buy a gun from a dealer, there is a record of that sale and it is registered. So how is it illogical to require the same for private sales of firearms?
kiki 6 months, 1 week ago
About That Goal
Moon - I actually voted for Obama since most closely represented my views. My point was that even though I don't align with any party, I vote based on my values, not a party's platform. I also respect contrary views. I understand that caring, intelligent people can disagree w/o calling names. That only alienates and creates divided. As Blanchard said, "understand, then be understood!".
kiki 6 months, 1 week ago
About That Goal
Moon - Without getting into the details (because when somebody expresses an opinion on this blog, somebody "shoots" them down with their opinion in child like maners) I was a fan of some of the Reagan and 1st Bush Whitehouses. Notice I said some . . . I also like some of the items that Obama stands for. I do not think any one party or philosophy can be right all the time as some on this site want us to believe. I am in favor of many "social" programs, I favor School choice issues, I favor respect for life from conception to natural death (including being against the death penalty), I favor an immigration plan that will allow the many good people that have been here for years to become citizens, I favor an enviroment that allows small business to thrive without too much government control, I favor a respect for our earth, I favor a world where there is incentive to be entreprenureal (?) efforts to create thriving businesses and industries, etc. These don't fit into a political party so I sit watching all the anger and disrespect for others as we prove we are right.
kiki 6 months, 1 week ago
About That Goal
I continue to be perplexed about how good, intelligent people can be so divided to resort to elementary school playground behavior. It is so obvious, if you step back from your wanting to convince others that you are right, that facts are made up, trends are mis-interpreted, quotes are taken out of context, etc. This happens on both sides! This is all done to convince others (and maybe ourselves) that we are right. Example . . . one regular has made comments about the drop in the stock market being about Obama and yet when it is pointed out that the stock market is still much higher than it was when he took over, Obama's role in minimized. Another example . . . another poster continues to place the Reps as "criminal" when in reality the US needs many of the good thinkers in the Rep party. It would be funny if it wasn't so critical for us to work together on both sides. I have recently read a book "The Rightious Mind - Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion". It is a great read but if you are trying to find data to support your philosophy, it isn't there, but it may open up your thinking as to why we defend our positions so adamently (sp?).
kiki 7 months ago
Wake-Up Call
Yukon, I admire your thinking . . .thanks for continuing to be a part of this board from the Great White North! God Bless!
kiki 7 months ago
Wake-Up Call
packwilleat - Thanks but I have been here for a few years. I come back occaisionally to see if anything has changed and the absolutists - "my way or the highway", "if you don't agree you are wrong" - will change. I guess not but sometines, like above with a few exceptions, there is honest, intelligent dialogue. I find it comical that some call others ignorant while making statements that are "kool aid" driven. I still maintin that umless we, the electorate, vote based on our own brains instead of party lines, we will not get righted regardless who is elected in November. I also maintain that unless we change, and if Romney is elected, the Dems will be calling for his head in 4 years. I do feel regardless of who is elected, the world is too complicated to expect one president to make major strides unless he or she gets support from the other side of the aisle. If Romney wins, I feel that some ignorant Dem will say that " our main objective these next 4 years is to make sure he doesn't get re-elected. Sound familiar? The madness will continue . . .