I mean, how inhibiting is it to learning, to exploring, if a kid has to wonder if his teacher is going to teach him that he or she can't think beyond whatever it is the Bible says or the creationists feel obligated to impose on young minds.

I don't understand why people are afraid of knowledge - it's never made any sense to me.  And I may burn in hell for saying this, but I'm not sure I'd want to believe in any God that made me so fearful I didn't think I was allowed to think - really think, not just regurgitate parochial teachings.

Congratulations to your nephew! Five worthy sentiment if there ever was one.

It's quite aggravating to be told, "no, that's not what you mean, you mean this."

And yes, we could let it go, but I don't think it's right that someone else thinks they get to decide what my own words, clearly explained, mean.  If they don't agree with what I'm saying, fine, but disagree with my words, not the ones you want me to have written.

Those grapes look great.  My husband grows wine grapes, and while the new growth is looking good, development of the grapes is a bit behind where yours are.  Ours grow in two rows parallel to the fence line on the far side of our field, where they get the most sun; last couple years, we've had to net them because something - probably the deer - was eating them right down to the wood.

Composer Marty O'Donnell, the man responsible for Halo's iconic theme song, is suing the head of his former company Bungie for not paying benefits he claims he is owed.

We get the veiled threats coming from the GOP. We understand you have nobody to run for President.

I don't think Hillary is likely to run as an outsider in 2016, given that her 2008 campaign was all about her being the experienced candidate - I don't think that after someone is First Lady, US Senator and Secretary of State she's going to run for president - this time - as an outsider.

So stop that silly talk.

I agree that her close ties to Goldman Sachs and the financial industry are going to make it harder for her to make the woman-of-the-people argument - but I wouldn't count her out of being able to thread that needle.  

Hillary has always been a strong voice for women and children, especially.  Even as Secretary of State, she advocated for them around the world.  No, she didn't grow up in abject poverty, and I don't imagine she and Bill were ever close to being homeless, but anyone who has sat with a pile of bills and not enough money to pay them understands how difficult life can be if you feel you have no hope of ever rising above it.

There are a lot of people with money doing good things with it, giving back to their communities and aiding causes and issues in service to lifting people up.  Yes, the Clintons have a lot of money now, but some people never forget the struggle - even if it wasn't of the epic variety that a$$hats like Mika Brzezinski seems to think it should have been in order for Hillary to have credibility.

All this being said, there are plenty of other reasons to want this inevitable maybe-candidate to get some push from the left; absent that push, it's just going to be one more better-than-the-other-guy election.

MSNBC co-host Mika Brzezinski has had it with her fellow Morning Joe guests whitewashing Hillary Clinton's comments about her family emerging from the White House "dead broke." While she said that the statement is true, and her family also struggled when they made the transition into public service, she implored her fellow broadcasters to stop angling for an interview with Clinton and comment honestly about how politically "tone-deaf" her statement was.

So even Mika agrees with the fact that after the Clintons left the WH, they didn't really have any money they could use (in large part due to defending against Ken Starr and the Rush Limbaugh minions of the world).

See:

Clinton's financial disclosure forms filed in 2000 show the couple had assets worth at least $781,000 and as much as nearly $1.8 million. The form, which Clinton filed as a Senate candidate, show she and her husband owed between $2.3 million and $10.6 million in legal bills at that time, according to the Associated Press.

So, no, the Clintons weren't in a position where they needed to stand in line for food stamps, but let's go to favorite topics of Republicans -economics and businesses.

Total assets = $780,000 - $1.8 million
Total liabilities = $2.3 million - $10.6 million

Being generous with their asset number and conservative with their liabilities we get:

$1.8 million < $2.3 million

Other then acknowledging how tired you must be,  anything else you hoped to get out of me will end in a call of no joy, at least from me :)

I hope nobody else feeds the tired troll either :)

Moreover, tenure is conflated with seniority on several occasions.  It is, as if a finding that the challenged statutes (permanent employment and dismissal) are unconstitutional will not only cure, but eliminate, "grossly ineffective" teachers--however that negative attribute is systematically and fairly determined. And,  the impression that such teachers disproportionately inflicted on poor students.

Or, that in the absence of tenure there will be no grossly ineffective teachers.  Of the 275,000 active teachers in the state, it was extrapolated that maybe 2750 to 8250 are grossly ineffective, quite a range in itself.   Equating quality with tenure or its absence was not in evidence, but rather in the misunderstandings of the plaintiffs--and the judge.

 And the judge, who claims fidelity to due process, objects to the Dismissal Statute as being "uber due process," citing not the statute's failings, but school administrators excuses and timidity to take the time and energy to execute them.

Now, no one was arguing for grossly ineffective teachers, this was stipulated by both defendants and plaintiffs, but have these statutes proved to be in the same league as Brown (race), Serrano (funding disparity) and Butt (school term disparity).  I think not, based on clear cut capabilities to measure and critique performance with discernment between ineffective and gross ineffective.