While I generally agree with your perspective about teachers, please keep in mind three things.

1. Math is a core competency that does not fundamentally change. Adding, Subtracting, Multiplication, Division... even Calculus and beyond... has not changed, and it won't. What you learned in school will still be correct when you retire. The body of knowledge may grow and evolve, but the core won't change.
2. There are many other focus areas like this.
3. Computer science is NOT one of them! What I took in college 20 years ago may still form a foundation for my knowledge, but it's not relevant to today's students.

This makes the field of computer science different and necessitates teachers keeping up with the industry... something most CS prof's simply do not and can not do. Some - perhaps even many - are great and will do everything possible to give their students relevant, current information.

I think that the negative attitude toward teachers you perceive is geared toward a narrow slice of the profession.

J

Agreed. Someone went to a lot of effort, and spends a huge stack of cash every month to keep FB operating and providing those free services. Very little in life is truly free... and this is no different.

They provide us with an entertaining and occasionally useful service without any cash changing hands, but that doesn't mean there isn't a cost involved.

Don't like that they can re-use your "private" data? Don't post it. Want to post it? Regardless of whether your talking about Facebook, some other social site, or even just old-fashioned web pages, as soon as you post it... it's publicly available and there is nothing you can really do to prevent it.

My advice to FB users (that includes me) is to use the same common sense you should be using everywhere: don't post something your mother couldn't read. It's corny, but that perspective could keep a lot of people out of trouble.

If you really want something private, don't use a public social site to post it. There are plenty of web hosting companies to choose from, and for just a few dollars every month you can have space for a web page and stored files. Just find a secured template... and remember that nothing is ever - EVER - truly secure if it is publicly accessible.

Cheers, and happy Facebooking!

Jim

No, what the death penalty accomplishes - assuming that the case is correctly adjudicated - is the prevention of THAT SINGLE INDIVIDUAL from ever committing a crime again.

Does it deter others? One would hope so, but that's not the primary goal.

Taking your arguments to the logical (and religiously zealot) extreme, let's just tattoo your national ID number onto the back of your hand - or forehead - and implant a chip. That way you won't be able to do ANYTHING unless the government knows about it and approves.

Dumb? Yep. Impossible? Unfortunately not. We're already heading this direction.

I'm not in favor of breaking laws, but at some point our country has gotten off track. We're no longer about liberty first. The only destination that road leads to is total communism.

Does anyone - government or otherwise - need to know when you have a drink? Not unless they plan to use that information at a later date... and we have too many clear example of how this is abused.

While that may feel socially good, that is unfortunately NOT accurate in the macro societal sense.

It doesn't matter what I personally believe, the issues are the same.

1. Do I get to enforce my beliefs upon society at large?

2. Am I forced to accept your beliefs when they are contradictory with my own?

It's nothing more complex than that, and our country was founded on some great principles, namely that of "majority rules" and "minority rights", to help mediate these two opposing perspectives.

In this particular case, a large percentage of the people of California - the clear majority - spoke out against a change that they didn't want. Why they voted this way doesn't matter, only that the majority voted to keep the current status.

So, should anyone have the right to overturn the results of a valid ballot count? Note that there is no question of win-versus-lose. The counts are not in question. If the proposition was legally on the ballot, it was voted for in a legal election, the count was conducted in a fair and impartial manner, and the proposition passed, then it passed and there is nothing that *should* be done. There is simply too much at stake to risk setting that precedent.

How does this hurt us? Any time a few people can overturn the will of the people is our problem because it reduces the value of our entire system of government.

I too have already voted, so this is really just a philosophical discussio

Regarding assignment of responsibility, it's easy to say "they were in charge and therefore they get the blame", but in my opinion that really doesn't address the underlying issue. The truth, as I see it, is that our elected representatives are responsible. Period. It's not about which party is responsible. Once the elections are over, EVERYONE is responsible. The president doesn't lead. The congress doesn't lead. There's a large group of people running amuck in DC, each professing to have ideals but very few actually voting that way. Thus, the only way to affect change is at the ballot box.

My recommendation: We need a full representative transfusion. Everyone should go. There's just one problem with that though... the only way to make that happen is term limits. Sound great, on the surface, but it would not hold up constitutionally. Do I - or any of you - have the right to tell someone else how to vote? If so, let's have term limits. If not... then you have the right to vote for someone a second, third, fourth... even tenth time. It's as easy as that.

So, we can't limit terms, and without term limits we get professional politicians who aren't really keeping his/her end of the bargain to represent the people that elected them. All we can do is to actively and passionately pursue changes in the electorate, communicate with our representatives and leaders, publicize our concerns, and either punish or reward them based on their actions.

Cheers!