Two reasons to vote for Hillary.

[AGirl]

“Merit pay to individual teachers would discourage teachers from helping troubled students and would create a distorted competition among teachers. I don’t think that’s a very good way to inspire teachers. We want our best teachers to work with the kids who are the hardest to teach. If teachers are going to be told that the people who look better on a test are the ones who are going to get them rewarded in salary or compensation, why would anyone take on the kids who are harder to teach?”

Obama is FOR merit pay.

Hillary is AGAINST merit pay.

The president of the California Teacher Association endorsed Hillary.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/19/323048.aspx

According to an article from Gerald McEntee from the Huffington Post, “the substantive difference between Clinton and Obama on health care is that Clinton will cover everyone and Obama will not. There's no reason to hope that every man, woman and child in our country will be covered under Obama's plan because that's not what he intends to do. When it comes to health care, the difference is clear: Obama's plan sets us back. Clinton's plan moves us forward."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20080205/cm_huffpost/085144

Hillary is For Universal Health Care.

[thunder rising]

1. Spun from the silk of Hillary's mill.

[BootinUp]

5. very thought provoking response on the issues, lol.

[robbedvoter]

2. Also, she'll end NCLB - Obama just fund it.

And those "We're no longer just a Christian nation" scares this atheist to death.
Separation of church and state? Still in the constitution.
And no, our country was NEVER a Christian nation. NEVER!

[BeatleBoot]

3. Dick Cheney's Energy Bill

A $25 Billion giveaway to Big Oil.

A $25 Billion dollar subsidy of Taxpayer Money to Big Oil.

Kennedy: NO

Kerry: NO

Clinton: NO

Edwards: NO

Obama: YES



Think about it the next time you're at the gas pump.

[stillcool]

18. I know it requires more reading...

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/292/
So that 2005 energy bill was a big step backwards on the path to clean, renewable energy. That's why I voted against it."----False

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 in debate in Las Vegas



Hillary Clinton may want some of the comments she made in Vegas to stay in Vegas.

During a televised MSNBC debate, the New York senator, who voted against the Energy Policy Act of 2005, called the law a “Dick Cheney lobbyist energy bill” that gave enormous tax breaks to the oil and gas industry. As president, Clinton said she would invest $50-billion in clean, renewable energy.

“So that 2005 energy bill was a big step backwards on the path to clean, renewable energy,” said Clinton. “That’s why I voted against it. That’s why I’m standing for the proposition — let’s take away the giveaways that were given to gas and oil, put them to work on solar and wind and geothermal and biofuels and all of the rest that we need for a new energy future.”

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who voted for the bill in 2005, had a different view.

“Well, the reason I voted for it was because it was the single largest investment in clean energy — solar, wind, biodiesel — that we had ever seen,” Obama said.

While the Energy Policy Act of 2005 did give the oil and gas industry tax breaks and incentives to boost production, the law also mandated 7.5-billion gallons of ethanol and other biofuels to be blended into gasoline by 2012 — the largest such mandate ever enacted and one widely credited with sparking an ethanol plant construction boom across the Midwest. The law also funneled hundreds of millions of dollars toward biomass research and the production of biofuels derived from the leaves, stems and stalks of a plant rather than corn kernels used to make ethanol.

“It obviously wasn’t (a step backward),” said Matt Hartwig, spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association. “It created a meaningful market for renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel.”

Clinton’s comments are particularly interesting given that she returned to Washington from the campaign trail last month to vote for the passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act. The 2007 energy law raises fuel economy standards for the first time in 32 years and requires production of billions of gallons more ethanol and biofuel.

But Senate Democrats, facing a veto threat from the White House and opposition from oil-state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, did not succeed in rolling back oil and gas industry tax breaks to pay for $21.5-billion in incentives for alternative energies such as solar and wind. Obama voted for the bill, too.

Rolling back tax breaks for the oil and gas industry in this Congress, and with this administration, is as likely as winning big in Vegas. Clinton’s best chance will come if and when she moves into the Oval Office. And despite being right when it comes to the 2005 Energy Policy Act’s treatment of the oil and gas industry, we find her assessment of its impact on renewable energy False.

[reality based]

4. Trying to make government and elections relevant to our everyday lives, are you?

Haven't you heard that change in our entertainment options is what this is all about. Our hearts can beat as one in unity and perfect harmony. I'd like to buy the world a Coke. Feeeeell goood and enjoy some smackdowns. Be one of the kewl kids. Whatever you do, don't mention that the MSNBC hacks work for GE.

[AGirl]

6. Yes, I do think talking about the issues is important.

Instead of gloating or spinning, people should focus on the issues.

[Jim Sagle]

7. But if we talk about the issues, the Hillshills win.

Don't be beastly to the Obamabozos.:sarcasm:

[AGirl]

8. Maybe hillary supporters can try to be civil and just stay on the issues?

We can set an example this way. With only one side talking, they can't play the game.

[Jim Sagle]

11. If an Edwardsonomist not a Hillbot.

And I have no intention of being nice to Obama or his loony followers. He and they have no substance and so I will give them none.

I've never seen anything like this Gong Show in politics.

[AX10]

9. Vote Hillary!

[AGirl]

10. I am with you on that.

[AGirl]

12. kick

[AGirl]

13. kick

[AGirl]

14. kick

[AGirl]

15. kick

[Aussie leftie]

16. I agree 100% with you on both counts

We just won an election going against the idea of incentive pay for teachers. They would tend to gravitate to the more exclusive schools where they have better opportunities to get better results. The students going to government schools would get the second rate teachers.

As for Ms Clinton's health care program. We have universal health in this country and there is not one person who would be rejected from any public hospital if they needed an operation whether life-saving or otherwise. (Except cosmetic surgery).

[AGirl]

17. right, !

[LordJFT]

19. So you think forcing people to buy healthcare is better than reducing costs?

[Scriptor Ignotus]

20. it's not quite as cut and dry as you present it

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama today endorsed the idea of merit pay for teachers before an audience hostile to the idea, the giant National Education Association, but he softened the blow by telling the union's national assembly that he would not use "arbitrary tests" to link pay to performance.

"I think there should be ways for us to work with the NEA, with teachers' unions, to figure out a way to measure success," Obama told a crowd of about 9,000 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. "I want to work with teachers. I'm not going to do it too you, I'm going to do it with you."

....

He promised more pay "across the board" for teachers and extra incentives for those willing to work in lower-performing schools in urban and rural areas, though he noted that he would release the details of those goals and other education policies at a later date.

Obama was firm in his denunciation of the No Child Left Behind law, saying he would not support its reauthorization, an issue now pending before Congress, unless the reliance on standardized test scores was softened and more federal funding was poured into compliance.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/8335627.html



Again Obama says something real that people don't like to hear. You really think our educational system was working before NCLB? The NEA is going to have to make some changes if we are going to compete with China and India in a global economy. If merit pay is based on some common sense, reliable metrics in conjunction with a base salary, I don't think many teachers would honestly oppose it.

[Blue-Jay]

21. 1) She might be the Democratic nominee.

2) :shrug:

[Tatiana]

22. If you studied Obama's actual position, instead of just listening to the soundbite...

you would know that Obama supports a merit incentive pay for teachers ON TOP OF their regular salary + raise + benefits.

As an educator, I support this idea.

[Tom Rinaldo]

23. Universal Health Care and Energy Policy are biggies for me n/t