The State of the Union 2015

[Tyche]

Unless you're going to an elite school or have a full ride, spending potentially thousands to take English 101 is certifiably insane. Community college gets a bad rep for a low graduation rate, but if your kid isn't getting it done at a two year school, they ain't gonna get it done at a Four year school. Get your gen ed reqs done at a community college.

[kuronosan]

Unless you're going to an elite school or have a full ride, spending potentially thousands to take English 101 is certifiably insane. Community college gets a bad rep for a low graduation rate, but if your kid isn't getting it done at a two year school, they ain't gonna get it done at a Four year school. Get your gen ed reqs done at a community college.

This, actually.

[Daydreamer]

I'm in a biotech program at a CC right now and the quality of the teachers that I've had is hands down better than what I received when I got my bachelors at a major 4 year university. Pretty much every teacher I've had has been absolutely amazing and whats more is that my 2 year program usually ranks higher than the actual 4 year programs in Texas.

So yeah, free community college all the way.

[shepardG]

It's like the much needed 13th and 14th grades, I'm all about the CC. Rdm dynamis, 4LIFE

[Abandon]

CC is le shit

[Dimmauk]

A couple months ago, Daily Show did a thing about gerrymandering in Austin, Texas.

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/kw...real-weirdness

[Yabby]

Unless you're going to an elite school or have a full ride, spending potentially thousands to take English 101 is certifiably insane. Community college gets a bad rep for a low graduation rate, but if your kid isn't getting it done at a two year school, they ain't gonna get it done at a Four year school. Get your gen ed reqs done at a community college.

I wish someone would of told me this in high school. I remember doing my first year+ of gen eds at OU (Sooners) and a friend of mine was doing the same thing at a CC. He was paying a third of what i was. I went to the office and asked if credits from his CC transferred here. She told me they did and are effectively the same in OU's eyes. That was a hard 10k lesson learned.

[kuronosan]

Man I hate to be a nitpicker but it's would have .

[Gredival]

If Gerrymandering is one of the only reasons for these kinds of losses, why didn't the Dem's focus on that while they were in control? Unless they are benefiting from it was well?

States legislatures usually set the districts, with the Governor having a veto. That's why it's easier for the Dems to win the Presidency and Senate than the House because all the densely populated urban areas will still count when determining a state's electoral votes. (And keep in mind, Senate and Electoral College both disproportionately favor small low population states.) But if all the blue voters are jammed into one district and the rest of the state is red, you aren't getting anyone up to the House.

The Dems do benefit from it as well in states they control; the problem is that GOP wins more geographic area with less people, so they have more opportunity to gerrymander. Also the districts are drawn every 10 years, which coincided with the first Obama midterm, meaning the GOP had a plush opportunity for map drawing.

[Restrat]

Some states are considering switching to district by district electoral college voting, meaning they might soon be able to gerrymander the presidency too!

[Yabby]

Man I hate to be a nitpicker but it's would have .

I'm OK with with people correcting my spelling and grammar. I've been bad at both all my life, to the point of needed tutors during middle school. Math came with ease, but I have never understood English for shit. But I will never learn unless called out on it. It took me forever to break there, their, and they're. I still do it sometimes sadly. Saying it out loud "Would have" / "Would of", i can hear the problem.

Some states are considering switching to district by district electoral college voting, meaning they might soon be able to gerrymander the presidency too!

This sounds amazing....

I'm not sure why states are split up at all, or why it started. If someone is going to represent the state as a whole, at the federal level, why is voting broken up? Take all votes state wide, top two go forward. Is there a logical reason for this?

[ringthree]

I don't really think it's all voter disenfranchisement, it does have a lot to do with the attitude the current populace has. I'm a social liberal but a fiscal conservative, so the only way I can see the budget ever being balanced is by cutting entitlement programs, flat tax on everyone with no loop holes, and tax breaks for low income earners based on reasonable analysis of a livable level of income.

We can all agree that we could really use a complete restructuring of government economics in order to get people motivated to actually work. Don't want to starve, you better work bitch. The current problem with government really has been a compounding clusterfuck thats been building up for a long time now.

You are not a social liberal if you believe in a flat tax. A flat tax is completely socially regressive. Progressive taxation is also considered to be the only real "just" taxation system. I agree with no loop holes (or limiting them to not be specifically targeted at the rich), but progressive taxation is the norm and should be supported by everyone that isn't trying to game the tax system to the rich.

[ringthree]

I'm OK with with people correcting my spelling and grammar. I've been bad at both all my life, to the point of needed tutors during middle school. Math came with ease, but I have never understood English for shit. But I will never learn unless called out on it. It took me forever to break there, their, and they're. I still do it sometimes sadly. Saying it out loud "Would have" / "Would of", i can hear the problem.



This sounds amazing....

I'm not sure why states are split up at all, or why it started. If someone is going to represent the state as a whole, at the federal level, why is voting broken up? Take all votes state wide, top two go forward. Is there a logical reason for this?

Because we are in a federal system. If you want more direct democracy then it should be direct election of the presidency from the populace as a whole. District by district electoral college voting is a horrible idea and far worse than the electoral college.

[ringthree]

If Gerrymandering is one of the only reasons for these kinds of losses, why didn't the Dem's focus on that while they were in control? Unless they are benefiting from it was well?

Edit: Sorry getting off topic, I would like to see that RT on gerrymandering tho. I'm looking for it but google isn't helping me much.

Districts are drawn up after the census, and Republicans controlled the last time it was done.

[Meresgi]

I'm in a biotech program at a CC right now and the quality of the teachers that I've had is hands down better than what I received when I got my bachelors at a major 4 year university. Pretty much every teacher I've had has been absolutely amazing and whats more is that my 2 year program usually ranks higher than the actual 4 year programs in Texas.

So yeah, free community college all the way.

^This is true of a lot of community colleges i've gone to opposed to 4years. It seems like most of the teaching staff at a 4yr school are just teachers, they may have worked in the industry at some point but they teach out of a book and that's that. 2yr CC's usually have 80% of their staff as adjuncts who all work 9-5 jobs in the industry they are teaching in. Obviously this doesn't pertain to math/english/etc type core stuff, but for the IT programs at least it's all adjuncts and it's great.

The fact that education isn't free yet is fucking terrible, and especially that Community Colleges arn't free.