Sunday Stuff

Isn’t it hilarious to hear well-to-do white people pontificate about how “poor” kids should work at an early age instead of benefit from the comparatively meager educational opportunities that exist for them (to say nothing of the largely well-to-do white people in the audience applauding that idiotic notion - here)?



Oh, and by the way, in response to Gingrich’s crap about janitors and teachers, I give you the following (here)…

New York City teachers certainly don’t get paid enough. The base pay is about $45,000, and it takes 22 long years to hit the $100,000 cap, according to the Department of Education. A city janitor maxes out about $6,000 higher—those top 20 reported to earn over $140,000 did so through massive overtime. But in the U.S., the average janitor makes $22,000—roughly half of a teacher’s starting pay. A handful of custodians who have worked long and hard enough to make a good living shouldn’t be an affront to anyone.

Also, from here…

The fact is, Gingrich and the Republican Party want to end child labor laws so that they can replace union workers with cheap labor. Children are easily manipulated and if Gingrich were allowed to put his plan in action, corporations wouldn’t have to provide health care to their new child labor force because they would all be working part-time. This is a way for corporations to eliminate adult workers and would aid in the Republican scheme to end public education. When would young kids find time for school if they are working for pennies? The answer is they wouldn’t. And at that crucial age, school is very important to the development of young minds. If children have to work, it would most likely have to be during the day, when schools are in session. Children will miss valuable educational lessons and will grow up to be ignorant, which is exactly what the Republican Party wants the population to be. Besides, if young kids are used to replace adults in the workforce, they are unlikely to find jobs as an adult because their jobs will be filled by another generation of child labor. Republicans want to groom future generations of Americans to accept what amounts to slave labor. It’s a vicious cycle that will only serve the interests of corporations and the GOP.

Yep, I would say that pretty much nails it.

Also, as noted here (when Gingrich was House Speaker before he resigned in disgrace, in response to Gingrich telling us how much he supposedly loves to fund science)…

…Gingrich and his Republican colleagues succeeded...in pushing through a broad program of (budget) austerity that, though it preserve(d) most of the basic research programs now in place, (put) them on a strict diet. As this issue went to press, most basic research institutions, such as the National Institutes of Health, which sponsors biological and medical research, were slated for cost-of-living increases at best, while others, such as the National Science Foundation, were expected to have to make do on slightly less.

…

The Republicans are expected to continue chipping away at spending on science in 1996. If Congress makes good on its resolution to balance the budget, it will have to cut science and technology spending by 3 3 percent (I assume that’s 3.3 with a typo) over the next seven years, according to estimates by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Stagnation could be the result, as young scientists find it increasingly difficult to win funding. From their viewpoint, American science could be racing toward the millennium on a diet of cold gruel.

And there are people I talk to who actually wonder why I don’t watch this crap.

...and from the ridiculous to the sublime, I give you this.