even though we know what we are doing isn't working.

I remember when I was a kid being forced to sit through subjects that had no real world use, presented in the most boring, painfully slow pace possible and resenting every minute of it.

Once a student has the core basics I think we should let them choose their courses more in line with a "university" type system. Even if the child wanders aimlessly from one subject to another until they decide what direction they want to choose in life they will still be learning better.

They will learn better because they will actually be interested in the subject of study,which makes one more engaged and more importantly they will be learning how to learn. What questions to ask, how to ask them and how to find the answer is much more important them memorizing dates of battles that happened centuries ago. I always thought it was much more important to learn WHY the battles were fought, not exactly to the day when.

With the readily available supply of information available to us today via the intertubes, if I have an "Oh Crap! How do I do that.." moment I can find the answer pretty darn quick.

Our current system focuses too much on trying to make kids experts in just a couple of subjects and virtually ignorant on the rest. leaving them unprepared for life. Our day to day lives are completely different then they were 100 years ago and yet the core structure of our educational system has remained virtually unchanged since that time.

I think many kids would thrive in an educational atmosphere where they have the opportunity to choose what they want to study and then have the instructor/teacher monitor their progress and set goals.

Obviously it would have to be much more complicated than this but I believe it could be done and I would love to see the results of a trial program.

All though I am not a breeder so what the hell do I know. :)

Please don't give them more blocks to prop up their religion, we need religion like we need a hole in the head.

Religion has killed more people than drugs so I keep waiting for the U.S. to declare war on it. (I can only hope.)

Maybe rather than drive more traffic to a website that supports the legislation (Fox News is a daughter company of NewsCorp. A vocal proponent of the legislation.)

I am sure we could find a link to a less unbalanced "News" site. (I hate using quotes that much but I can't refer to that biased political commentary network as a news agency, for that matter there are few legit news sources anymore, its all just commentary and opinion pieces anymore, but thats another rant.)

It frustrates me, I love Fox's animated shows but despise their political side.

According to Fl law, you own the air rights above your property expanding out to space (I assume air rights would cease when there is no air, lol, but that is not the way the law is currently written.) and land rights under your property to the center of the earth. But eminent domain claims would be filed for usage of your air rights by the civil authorities. The government is great at taking away personal assets if it becomes an inconvenience to them. (Don't even get me started on this B.S. abuse of civil authority) As a retired law enforcement officer in a lot of ways this kind of scares me. We like to think that the best and brightest are the only people that maintain a career in law enforcement but in my experience this is not true. You have 4 basic types in law enforcement jobs. 1. The Good Cop. He is a guy/gal that actually is a genuinely decent person with a civic minded personality. (the rarest of the types) 2. The Hall Monitor. This really needs no explanation, we all know the type. 3. The bully. Again, no real need to explain. 4. The "I got picked on too much in High School and I am getting back at em by becoming a cop" cop. Actually, this is probably just another subset of the "bully" I don't want the last 3 flying drones over my home, armed or unarmed. Peering into windows and the supposed privacy of our homes and I ain't too keen on even the first type being able to. Humans tend to be voyeuristic by nature and this could be too easily abused. And law enforcement is a bureaucracy. With the same tendencies for people to rise to the level of their incompetence. It's said but ability to kiss butt and smooth talk gets you to the top of the heap and not actual ability to perform the duties required of the positions. (See our entire political process for reference). Besides, Law enforcement isn't about just stopping crime "Death from above" style. It is (supposed to be) about providing good roll models, showing a physical presence on the the streets letting the thugs and criminals that would victimize citizens know that they are there to deter them and in general help the community be a better place. Kind of hard to assist a stranded motorist or a guy being pressured into giving up his wallet without the ability to read body language and facial expressions. These are not easy things to do via a drone while sitting in an air conditioned office. The last thing any good officer should be is detached from his community. It makes it easier for them to fall into negative behaviors and abuse of authority rather than harder. At least now the bad cops still have to look the citizens in the eye, which may deter some borderline types from going bad in the first place. Oh, and it's one more tool for Skynet to use against us when the machine rebellion takes place. ;)

Actually, there was supposedly a "Missing" 13th amendment precisely with that in mind.

I don't know how accurate it is but here is one of many links that come up when you google search for banning lawyers.

http://www.constitutionalconcepts.org/13thamend-%20facts.htm

If true, I really wish that one would have been ratified.

How about a war on Lawyers? Worst case scenario we thin their numbers a bit and improve the overall health of the legal system. They have officially overpopulated the halls of justice. Just like areas with too many Deer, we removed their natural predator (common sense and decency in the case of lawyers) and now they are running amok causing undue problems. Rabbit Season, Duck Season, Lawyer Season... I for one would be first in line for my tag. It's not like they are an endangered species and their departure would surely only help the social and economic "Food Chain". And think, once we thin their numbers a bit we may actually be able to get some meaningful Tort reform passed without their special interest groups constantly blocking it. Just my two cents, or no sense... Not sure which.

I would love to see a remake of Master of Orion 2. The third one was such a huge disappointment, but the 2nd one absorbed days of my time in a row....