Teachers in U.S. deserve more respect

All things being equal I guess my comment could be seen as funny, at least compared to yours, since mine at least had a point.

Would you care to come off the high horse and have a discussion? Is my math off somewhere? I understand if you can't be bothered with trivialities like actually engaging people with whom you disagree.

January 13, 2012 at 9:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Teachers in U.S. deserve more respect

Teachers vs. Babysitters: An analysis

A common argument used to disparage the educators of our nation is that a person who earns $55,000 (if they're lucky) per year for a glorified babysitting job that only operates 9 months out of the year should not have much to complain about. So let's see what happens if we actually decided to pay teachers like babysitters.

Let's assume the cost of babysitting a child is $5 per hour, per child. The rate is probably actually much higher for a babysitter, but let's say we've found a very kind person.

20 kids in a class* $5 = $100 per hour
$100 * 8 hour workday (at least) = $800 per day
$800 per day * 180 school days = $144,000 per year

Conclusion: a full-time babysitter charging $5 per child/hour will see pay equal to more than %250 of a teacher who takes home $55,000.
Conclusion addendum: If our teachers are going to be called babysitters, we should pay them like one.

January 13, 2012 at 7:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

No surprise to pastor religion tied to community engagement

So maybe pointing out one lone act of vandalism as an example of christian bigotry against atheists was kind of a low-hanging fruit, as examples go. Maybe something systematic, and with the official seal of the religion is what is needed:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion...

Another problem for the newest generation of freethinkers is a trend among private colleges to not allow secular humanist/atheist groups to officially organize on campus. Yes, these are private colleges who can legally discriminate against whomever they want, but these same colleges also allow student groups to meet which are Muslim, Jewish, and a host of other faiths. This is clearly sending the bigoted message that disbelief and freethought make one a secondhand citizen. Sad, and not very Christian.

January 3, 2012 at 12:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

No surprise to pastor religion tied to community engagement

Maybe 'informed hate' is when you read the Bible to learn what to hate (but only the parts that hate the same thing[s] that you hate)?

January 3, 2012 at 12:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

No surprise to pastor religion tied to community engagement

"Find me one story, just one, where Christians are showing bigotry toward atheists."
----------------------------
One 30-second google search later:
http://www.cvaas.org/2011/05/06/appar...

This seems to be epidemic, by the way. All over the country, freethought organizations are paying to put up billboards on private property and they are being vandalized regularly. Stories like this are very easy to find. Chalkings on campus and other material promiting freethought groups are regularly vandalized in campuses and communities accros the country (again, google-fu here).

On the other hand, it's interesting that angry atheists don't have a national reputation of vandalizing church signs or religious billboards and material, even though church messages are much closer to the ground than your average billboard. In fact, the very first hit for the google search "church atheist vandalization" comes up with an atheist group that raised funds to help a vandalized church!! It's almost like atheists and freethinkers are overall respectful of others beliefs, as long as people can respect each other and public funds are not used to promote any one ideology.

Respect for people is a rule of civil society, and not using public funds for religious conversion is the rule of law. The average atheist lives by both.

January 3, 2012 at 11:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

No surprise to pastor religion tied to community engagement

Lots of truth, also.

Well said.

January 2, 2012 at 1:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Penn State’s shame — and America’s too

"The gays made him do it. The devil made him do it. Yet, if someone is poor, it's all their own fault. "

This is great, and should be repeated. Cognative dissonance is a hell of a drug, and Cal's addicted!

November 15, 2011 at 10:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Do you drink bottled or tap water more often?

'Evian' spelled backwards is........
'nuff said.

November 3, 2011 at 8:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Worst to first: Kansas City Chiefs scream into tie atop AFC West

It seemed to go both ways. Remember that personal foul after the Chiefs hit a huge reception, and the Charger who brought him down was hit for the PF because of the new rule that a receiver just catching the ball is 'defenseless'? So.....was he supposed to just ask the receiver politely to stop running? Horrible officiating

November 1, 2011 at 10:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

The owner of this water tower, which stands south of Highway 40 off of East 50 Road near Big Springs

Good post, and good points. Sad that commenters here would choose to mock, rather than think that this might be a legitimate safety issue for a person to deal with.

I read somewhere else that he was trying to demolish the tower with no liability insurance, and no demolition permit, and the guy's brother said that it was basically the same principle of cutting down a tree. Right.....a tree with a 2 ton metal bulb at the top.....exactly the same as a tree. Too bad these issues weren't fleshed out more here.

October 26, 2011 at 2:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )