Here's what has to happen:

The people whose schools these are, if its a big enough issue to them, need to oust their school board, and make sure that "zero tolerance" policies are sane, and that administrators are held accountable. (i.e. The school board should immediately dismiss the folks that were involved in this incident. Period. No bullshit. No second chances.)

We can not expect our problems to be solved top-down by nine despots in robes.

Real change comes from the bottom-up. Don't like your government school system, think the education they provide stinks, think the people who run them are incompetent corrupt assholes? Get involved. Get rid of them.

Things have gotten to be the way they are because good people have essentially ignored their responsibility to hold public officials accountable. Many times good people have avoided getting involved altogether just because its messy business. They have assumed someone else would handle things. Of course, it seems that those who have typically volunteered to handle things have been some of our society's worst.

Seriously, it's time to start a bottom-up movement to take this country back. It's time to hold our elected officials and appointed officials accountable. It's time to demand self-responsibility of those around us and to let those who will not be responsible suffer the consequences of their actions.

You take your backyard. I'll take mine.

Play time is over.

Which is sort of proof positive that it didn't actually work. Every panic/depression prior to the 30s was cleaned up in a matter of years.

Even Roosevelt's own Treasury Secretary admitted that nothing they did worked.

Keynesianism is just a favorite of politicians because it supports power grabs.

That's what they say on CNN and Fox.

Funny thing, the "theory" that backs it up has never worked in practice.

That's what some folks say.

Others say that the path we're on now leads to hyper-inflation, loss of liberty, plus what you mention. Except that it happens over a longer period of time. Keynesianism has never worked in practice.

I did, didn't I? Sorry. My mistake. Things do seem to be accelerating though.

Yeah, I second that one. $165 million is chump change compared to what AIG has taken from the government. They should have been allowed to fail, claim chapter 11 or chapter 7 if it came to that.

But again, Paulson was looking out for his buddies.

Welcome to the Fascist States of America

Tufte looks interesting.

This whole government stimulus/bailout stuff is just a multi-trillion dollar boondoggle designed to enrich the already filthy rich at the expense of the populace. Ultimately it will do more harm than good. Wait for the hyper-inflation...

Anyway, the theory (if you can even call it that) used to justify this whole scam has never been proven to work in practice. In fact, every time its been applied it has failed.

Actually it is does do one good thing, at least for those in power. It allows them a helluva lot more power.

I'll raise you and say that, even if you or I do not consider it moral, any and all discrimination on the part of an employer should be legal. Decisions to hire or fire are personal ones, and should not be regulated at all. Period. We should not legislate morality.

If one posts a comment in public view, one has to realize that others will see it. One must realize that he is in control of his reputation. If he tarnishes it, that is his problem. His actions have repercussions. The sooner he realizes this, the better.

Freedom is not license.

They don't like to charge big tax bills all at once. They like to nickel and dime you to death so you don't get pissed off and fire each and every last one of the worthless no good piece of shit sons of bitches.

Death by 1000 paper cuts.

in the context of economic stimulus, such investment sinks are actually desirable

Says who, the monetary cranks?

You should read Economics in One Lesson by Harry Hazlitt.

Do you actually believe any of the claptrap you just spewed?

It doesn't have to be that way. There could be a sudden outbreak of sanity. No doubt that would be painful in the short run, but it would save us from the ruinous path we are headed down.

Yes, Merry Christmas to you too. There's no need to be depressed and angry all the time. Get enough of that the other 364 days.:)

Technically you're right. Anyone who can print money can not go bankrupt per se, though it doesn't mean that those governments do not destroy themselves and their citizens by resorting to the printing press. That's the worrisome part.

It is impossible to spend our way to prosperity or print wealth. Wealth is not money nor is money wealth, but rather wealth is the capital of a nation as represented by machinery and other factors of production.

Money itself is a token used to trade for those things, the creation of which does not generate more capital just more claims to that capital.

This results in an increase in prices, but prices do not increase evenly and the inflation in the supply of money does not effect the populace evenly. Instead it stretches the middle-class to non-existence, impoverishing many at the expense of the politically well-connected (i.e. they are the ones who get the money before it has lost its value).

This is what I'm worried about. This is de facto bankruptcy. This is where we are headed if we do not change course.

This is why the thugs in Washington need to stop with the cockamamie spending plans. They are destroying us.

To hell with universal broadband.

Is it just me, or does no one realize that the country is bankrupt? Where the hell is $44 billion going to come from? There was a nearly $1 trillion deficit this year alone. Next year's could be double that. The national debt is over $10 trillion and there is an additional $40+ trillion medicare/social security liability.

Funny thing is if the federal government were a corporation all of its executives would be in jail for phony accounting practices.

I ask again, where is the money going to come from? (hint: the printing press is the correct, but morally and intellectually bankrupt answer)