The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Well, since everybody's doing it:

Kucinich 43
Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind

Gravel 41
Death Penalty

Paul 31
Abortion Rights, Death Penalty, ANWR Drilling, Kyoto, Border Fence, Same-Sex Marriage, Universal Healthcare

Biden 23
No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Same-Sex Marriage

Clinton 21
No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage

Dodd 21
No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran - Military Action

Edwards 20
No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage

Obama 19
Death Penalty, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Same-Sex Marriage

Richardson 19
Patriot Act, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage

McCain -11
Cox -14
Thompson -15
Brownback -17
Huckabee -30
Giuliani -34
Tancredo -34
Romney -47
Hunter -47

I'm not too sure about this. It's on a 100-point scale, right? Seems like the ones I agree with the most (which ain't much), are kinda out there and I daresay unelectable? I went for Kucinich last time, but I'm really not feeling it now. "Department of Peace" and all that Shirley MacLaine lovey healy evolution of human consciousness into a glowing ball of effulgent light crap. After reading mkilly's bit + link about him, earlier in the thread, the pro-life thing makes sense... he's just that kind of hippie. Which makes it even more shameful that he'd reverse his position just to run... this is supposed to be the truth-and-light guy, right? Ugh, I feel kinda stupid for voting for him last time. I did what my activist friend told me to do, and didn't question. At least it didn't matter anyway.

Says here Mike Gravel is 77 years old. Maybe it's bad for me to care about that... but I dunno, that's pretty old. Gravel... in a grave.. filled with gravel? He seems more grounded/sane than Kucinich at first glance, but I really don't know too much about the guy. I'll have to check it out. Looks like he doesn't have much of a chance anyway, though.

I have this creepy feeling that it's just gonna end up being Clinton, that maybe this Illuminati shit is more serious than I thought. Do I knee-jerk against that, register as a Republican, fight with (also old) Ron Paul to bring down the Fed? I'm thinking that would be a bad idea, as my libertarian streak is pretty half-baked and not altogether that convincing to the rest of me. I doubt that small govt would really help anything, cringing in the shadow of big business. Seems endorsing Paul would be just like going for Kucinich last time, but a different kind of naive. Naivete? eh-tay? Ack, I dunno how to do those cute little accent marks. EDIT: Oh! Turns out he's quite the racist! Funny I didn't know that until now. Yeah, fuck that guy.

Stupid elections. Maybe, just maybe... Stephen Colbert? For real? Yeah right, I know, but he'd prolly be better than uh.. two other actors I can think of offhand. Or just take .. I think it's Weasel Slayer's? .. advice, and "VOTE SATAN!". Direct and to the point.

Ugh. That was quite a long string of crap. Sorry about that.

What does "No Child Left Behind" mean?

No Child Left Behind has to do with schools in the U.S. - it sets up a bunch of rules and regulations intended to ensure that children get a better education. Unfortunately, some of the provisions have the possibility of backfiring; for example, the qualifications for teachers have been raised and the rules about who can teach what have been tightened - no longer can the football coach also be made to teach the U.S. History class, unless he/she is also qualified to be a history teacher. So the potential backfire is that you wind up with 50 kids in each U.S. History class because there is one less teacher "qualified" to teach the subject. Or you hire another qualified history teacher, but since you've spent the money on that, you can't pay for non-mandated stuff like music classes anymore.

That's the short answer, I'm sure there are others who can provide more detail...

Charles

king_arthur wrote:all the stuff KingA said...

Also, it's dumbing down the standards for the kids too. There is more emphasis on kids passing TESTS over whether or not they are actually retaining ANYTHING. Essentially rewarding EVERY child by lowering testing standards and reducing any competition for smarter children. (And then I'd guess reducing motivation from smarter children as well.)

This is probably worse than what anyone can see on the surface. I was a child who moved from the northern school systems to the southern school systems and even then I noticed a HUGE difference. Especially in reading / comprehension. I was WAY ahead of most of my southern counterparts. So as we focus more on passing children..and the standards go down even further where there isn't much more room for that...

This while Japanese children learn English and other economies already starting to thrive to rival ours... (I guess we still have more guns)

There are a couple of problems with these quizzes. First of all, the wqad one has multiple choices for each issue, but often fails to encompass the full range of possible opinion. It also fails to acknowledge that your opinion might be *close* to that of a particular candiadate without actually matching it. No horseshoes and hand grenades here.

The other one doesn't even try to encompass the full range of political opinion; it just lists a bunch of buzzwords and asks whether you agree or disagree. (Stem Cells! Discuss!) Some of them seem to be chosen to skew the test: is anyone actually going to click "Support" under "Guantanamo?"

But most of all, both tests completely ignore the difference between "hypothesis" and "practice." On paper, I support No Child Left Behind, but its execution has been a disaster on the grandest scale. Does that mean I'm agin' it? I guess so.

Point is, these are all complex political issues, and can't accurately be filed under "yes" and "no," or even under a brief rubric of multiple choice answers.

That said, my top match was Kucinich. I hate Kucinich.

Kucinich 71
No Child Left Behind

Gravel 57
(you have no disagreements with this candidate)

Dodd 41
Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action

Clinton 41
Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage

Obama 39
Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Same-Sex Marriage

Edwards 38
Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage

Biden 36
Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Same-Sex Marriage

Richardson 33
Death Penalty, Assault Weapons Ban, Patriot Act, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage

Paul 3
Abortion Rights, Embryonic Stem Cells, ANWR Drilling, Kyoto, Assault Weapons Ban, Guns - Background Checks, Citizenship Path for Illegals, Border Fence, Net Neutrality, Minimum Wage Increase, Same-Sex Marriage, Universal Healthcare

McCain -19
Thompson -21
Giuliani -27
Cox -32
Brownback -40
Huckabee -41
Tancredo -60
Romney -62
Hunter -68

God damn it, that's it. The one night this week I can actually have dinner at home, and on a HOLIDAY no less, and I've got campaigners calling to ask me if I can change my work schedule to see Barack Obama's WIFE speak at someone's house.

I really tried to go into this election with a less cynical mindset, but after everything I've seen so far, I'm inclined to vote for whoever leaves me the Hell alone at this point.

[/rant]

Ross Perot is probly your best bet this year then.



heheeh

jack wrote:http://www.electoralcompass.com/page/0/thema+s/

That's pretty cool. Thanks Jack.

frankie big face wrote:

jack wrote:http://www.electoralcompass.com/page/0/thema+s/

That's pretty cool. Thanks Jack.

Yes, thanks Jack...and when you two post right after one another, it confuses the hell out of me. (avatars)

<img src="http://chris.hoblit.net/misc/HoblitParty.jpg">