on PolicyMic
Rick Collins Thankfully these manuscripts were portable and hide-able, and there were people willing to risk hiding them. Many significant architectural treasures were not, didn't fare so well, and will be missed as Mali needs to seek evidence of historical roots that can help unify.
Rick Collins Nice piece. For Mali to survive and be restored to functional unity, shared historical/cultural heritage and the awareness among all Malians of such is critical. The importance that artifacts and relics be preserved is more about this than the entertainment and education of global privileged and wealthy. Scary is the militant Islamist tendency to eradicate all connected to differing ideologies.
Rick Collins Sweet and amusing, or an awkward debacle describes a movie I won't be planning to sit through. Thanks for the head"s up, Haleigh. And don't get me wrong. I appreciate the "awkward" in youing people's movies. Loved Lena Dunham's "Tiny Furniture", for example; a realistic, intelligent, portrayal of the awkward/quirky/funny world post-grad millenials face.
Rick Collins CRU email controversy was debunked ages ago as a whole lotta nothing--pure petroganda.
Rick Collins Facts: T was acting 100% within his rights. Z, against the direction of police stalked T. Despite that neighborhood watch volunteers are directed by police not to carry weapons, Zim carried a loaded handgun with him while stalking and confronting Trayvon who was doing nothing wrong. If someone stalked me and confronted me in my community near my home, and refused to get out of my face or, worse yet, pull a gun on me; I'd fight to protect myself.
Rick Collins I do agree with Haleigh that colleges should be wary of SAT scores as a key determinant. I submit also that effort should be made to improve the SAT, such that biases reinforced by structure and question styles be reduced. And I agree with Joanna that focus should certainly be on helping poor and/or minorities applicants prepare for the SAT. The SAT is a necessary evil. Alternatives have potential to be less fair and way more expensive.
Rick Collins SAT provides a uniform metric for consideration of applicants, where HS standards are variable, and grade inflation is rampant. Also provides an inexpensive means whereby colleges may cull down swelling app pools. Privileged benefit from the entire process. How many two-job single moms have time and money to support the resume-building required by top schools? Travel sports, debate, chess. Need blind is amusing in light of all this.
Rick Collins An unarmed young man walking near his home, abiding by the law, threatening no one, was stalked by an armed man who ultimately shot him. Said armed man had been directed by police to not approach young man, and disobeyed police rules that he not be armed while operating as neighborhood watch volunteer. Thank God for the mob keeping an eye on this disgraceful case.
Rick Collins No we can't say Duke lacrosse again. Yours is a sadly unintelligent analogy. An unarmed young man walking near his home, abiding by the law, threatening no one, was stalked by an armed man who ultimately shot him. Said armed man had been directed by police to not approach young man, and was disobeyed police rules that he not be armed while operating as neighborhood watch volunteer. Thank God for the mob keeping an eye on this disgraceful case.
Rick Collins Check the body armor on those hipster-arresters! I hope they had several armed drones locked and loaded, given the violent dangerous potential of the sane-food "terrorists". The militartization of our police is so frightening. With the wind-downs (we hope) in Iraq and Afghanistan, Carlyle & Co have to sell their wares somewhere, right? Beat cops should all drive Bearcats: http://www.swattrucks.com/
Rick Collins Think of the civil rights and feminist movements. If leaders like MLK didn't interrupt routines and break laws (and get arrested) civil rights issues would likely never have been addressed to the extent that they have.
Rick Collins I have to disagree here. I think that the right to public assembly remains a critical means of expression of free speech, a central tenet of our democracy. I can't think of a better place to assemble than on state land, property of a University with a history of protest and push for societal change. Without assembly, disruption of routine, and arrest, much of the positive change that has evolved for the US would not have happened.
Rick Collins I own a securities trading business. You work at your family's deli and "have owned" other businesses. Whatever. You made the claim that your experience of the nightmare of insurance shopping is only about the millions of government regulations youve encountered. I asked that you name just a few particularly onerous regulations that have made your shopping and cost-comparison process such a nightmare. We're speaking of health care here.
Rick Collins I own one medium sized business and have no issue with government regulation. And I know of few, frankly. Not sure where you find millions? Perhaps name a few that really cause you bad dreams? The insurers have lobbied hard against standardization of a variety of classes of policies, and it's been proposed that standardization involve them, doctors, pharma, consumer advocates; all parties to the game. Insurers don't want to have to compete.
Rick Collins I hear you, Jeff. I had thought that your quote was in reference to health care cost differences between Thailand and the US.
Rick Collins Excellent comment, Jeff. The tort reform soundbite holds no water, and the needless testing and expenditures which are in fact a problem, connect more with economics of cross ownership and referral issues, that with lawsuit avoidance. Nice to see you have a flexible POV.
Rick Collins Orzag usually speaks more intelligently than you quote. Likely you've taken him out of context. I'm sure he understands that a Nurse in NY makes 40K/year and a nurse in Bangkok makes about a tenth of that. The lobster salad you cite costs about 50 cents, too. Yours is such a simplistic view.
Rick Collins Quality free market capitalism sometimes requires regulation. Ever shopped for health insurance? By design our insurers make it impossible to compare policies, and to know how they will perform re claims. So yes, government enforced standardization of classes of policies and performance re claims, would provide for a real competitive market for health insurance. I assume you are a fan of true competitive capitalist markets, no?
Rick Collins You always have a Limbaugh soundbite locked and loaded, don't you?
Rick Collins What a stretch you engage to oversimplify cost-comparison of Thai health care to that of the US. To connect the difference in care a wealthy westerner can enjoy in Thailand to conservative sound bites re malpractice, regulation, government involvement is ridiculous. Want freer health markets in the US? Start by establishing standardized government-enforced policy standards, so US consumers can cost-compare among like policies offered by insurers.
Rick Collins A problem with any process as crappy as college admissions (college rankings for ex) is that it is gameable. All parties to the process are incented to game. And whether it's via inflated grades, invented extra-curriculars, essays written by others, application profiles are gamed. Standardized tests (but for cheating, which is easy to eliminate) are not gameable, so they render the process better.
Rick Collins The SAT is but one piece of the very ugly gauntlet of stress our HS students must run to get into college. The pressure to produce a dossier of accomplishments in an array of venues is a disgrace; especially when one considers that much of the energy expended is waste, contibutes little to actual intellectual development, and preparation for college and life.
Rick Collins What do these sites have to do with Anonymous? 4chan is a sewer, for sure, but the connection with Anonymous is dubious, at best.
Rick Collins I stand corrected. The 1% stat appears in the piece you reference. That said, I think the stat is quite wrong. Acc to US Census in 2009 (last survey) 21.9 mm Americans are vets, roughly 7.5% of our current pop. Othere sources state that roughly 10% of Americans are vets. Is their an explanation for the 1% you quote?
Rick Collins Approximately 10% of Americans are veterans. Estimates vary on what percentage of veterans have seen active duty, and who of these have actually seen combat. PTSD would generally be considered to be connected to combat, and exposure to violence. I saw no mention of "only one percent of Americans have served in the military" in your cited source. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed your piece and it deals with a very worthy issue.
on PolicyMic
Rick Collins Thankfully these manuscripts were portable and hide-able, and there were people willing to risk hiding them. Many significant architectural treasures were not, didn't fare so well, and will be missed as Mali needs to seek evidence of historical roots that can help unify.
Rick Collins Nice piece. For Mali to survive and be restored to functional unity, shared historical/cultural heritage and the awareness among all Malians of such is critical. The importance that artifacts and relics be preserved is more about this than the entertainment and education of global privileged and wealthy. Scary is the militant Islamist tendency to eradicate all connected to differing ideologies.
Rick Collins Sweet and amusing, or an awkward debacle describes a movie I won't be planning to sit through. Thanks for the head"s up, Haleigh. And don't get me wrong. I appreciate the "awkward" in youing people's movies. Loved Lena Dunham's "Tiny Furniture", for example; a realistic, intelligent, portrayal of the awkward/quirky/funny world post-grad millenials face.
Rick Collins CRU email controversy was debunked ages ago as a whole lotta nothing--pure petroganda.
Rick Collins Facts: T was acting 100% within his rights. Z, against the direction of police stalked T. Despite that neighborhood watch volunteers are directed by police not to carry weapons, Zim carried a loaded handgun with him while stalking and confronting Trayvon who was doing nothing wrong. If someone stalked me and confronted me in my community near my home, and refused to get out of my face or, worse yet, pull a gun on me; I'd fight to protect myself.
Rick Collins I do agree with Haleigh that colleges should be wary of SAT scores as a key determinant. I submit also that effort should be made to improve the SAT, such that biases reinforced by structure and question styles be reduced. And I agree with Joanna that focus should certainly be on helping poor and/or minorities applicants prepare for the SAT. The SAT is a necessary evil. Alternatives have potential to be less fair and way more expensive.
Rick Collins SAT provides a uniform metric for consideration of applicants, where HS standards are variable, and grade inflation is rampant. Also provides an inexpensive means whereby colleges may cull down swelling app pools. Privileged benefit from the entire process. How many two-job single moms have time and money to support the resume-building required by top schools? Travel sports, debate, chess. Need blind is amusing in light of all this.
Rick Collins An unarmed young man walking near his home, abiding by the law, threatening no one, was stalked by an armed man who ultimately shot him. Said armed man had been directed by police to not approach young man, and disobeyed police rules that he not be armed while operating as neighborhood watch volunteer. Thank God for the mob keeping an eye on this disgraceful case.
Rick Collins No we can't say Duke lacrosse again. Yours is a sadly unintelligent analogy. An unarmed young man walking near his home, abiding by the law, threatening no one, was stalked by an armed man who ultimately shot him. Said armed man had been directed by police to not approach young man, and was disobeyed police rules that he not be armed while operating as neighborhood watch volunteer. Thank God for the mob keeping an eye on this disgraceful case.
Rick Collins Check the body armor on those hipster-arresters! I hope they had several armed drones locked and loaded, given the violent dangerous potential of the sane-food "terrorists". The militartization of our police is so frightening. With the wind-downs (we hope) in Iraq and Afghanistan, Carlyle & Co have to sell their wares somewhere, right? Beat cops should all drive Bearcats: http://www.swattrucks.com/
Rick Collins Think of the civil rights and feminist movements. If leaders like MLK didn't interrupt routines and break laws (and get arrested) civil rights issues would likely never have been addressed to the extent that they have.
Rick Collins I have to disagree here. I think that the right to public assembly remains a critical means of expression of free speech, a central tenet of our democracy. I can't think of a better place to assemble than on state land, property of a University with a history of protest and push for societal change. Without assembly, disruption of routine, and arrest, much of the positive change that has evolved for the US would not have happened.
Rick Collins I own a securities trading business. You work at your family's deli and "have owned" other businesses. Whatever. You made the claim that your experience of the nightmare of insurance shopping is only about the millions of government regulations youve encountered. I asked that you name just a few particularly onerous regulations that have made your shopping and cost-comparison process such a nightmare. We're speaking of health care here.
Rick Collins I own one medium sized business and have no issue with government regulation. And I know of few, frankly. Not sure where you find millions? Perhaps name a few that really cause you bad dreams? The insurers have lobbied hard against standardization of a variety of classes of policies, and it's been proposed that standardization involve them, doctors, pharma, consumer advocates; all parties to the game. Insurers don't want to have to compete.
Rick Collins I hear you, Jeff. I had thought that your quote was in reference to health care cost differences between Thailand and the US.
Rick Collins Excellent comment, Jeff. The tort reform soundbite holds no water, and the needless testing and expenditures which are in fact a problem, connect more with economics of cross ownership and referral issues, that with lawsuit avoidance. Nice to see you have a flexible POV.
Rick Collins Orzag usually speaks more intelligently than you quote. Likely you've taken him out of context. I'm sure he understands that a Nurse in NY makes 40K/year and a nurse in Bangkok makes about a tenth of that. The lobster salad you cite costs about 50 cents, too. Yours is such a simplistic view.
Rick Collins Quality free market capitalism sometimes requires regulation. Ever shopped for health insurance? By design our insurers make it impossible to compare policies, and to know how they will perform re claims. So yes, government enforced standardization of classes of policies and performance re claims, would provide for a real competitive market for health insurance. I assume you are a fan of true competitive capitalist markets, no?
Rick Collins You always have a Limbaugh soundbite locked and loaded, don't you?
Rick Collins What a stretch you engage to oversimplify cost-comparison of Thai health care to that of the US. To connect the difference in care a wealthy westerner can enjoy in Thailand to conservative sound bites re malpractice, regulation, government involvement is ridiculous. Want freer health markets in the US? Start by establishing standardized government-enforced policy standards, so US consumers can cost-compare among like policies offered by insurers.
Rick Collins A problem with any process as crappy as college admissions (college rankings for ex) is that it is gameable. All parties to the process are incented to game. And whether it's via inflated grades, invented extra-curriculars, essays written by others, application profiles are gamed. Standardized tests (but for cheating, which is easy to eliminate) are not gameable, so they render the process better.
Rick Collins The SAT is but one piece of the very ugly gauntlet of stress our HS students must run to get into college. The pressure to produce a dossier of accomplishments in an array of venues is a disgrace; especially when one considers that much of the energy expended is waste, contibutes little to actual intellectual development, and preparation for college and life.
Rick Collins What do these sites have to do with Anonymous? 4chan is a sewer, for sure, but the connection with Anonymous is dubious, at best.
Rick Collins I stand corrected. The 1% stat appears in the piece you reference. That said, I think the stat is quite wrong. Acc to US Census in 2009 (last survey) 21.9 mm Americans are vets, roughly 7.5% of our current pop. Othere sources state that roughly 10% of Americans are vets. Is their an explanation for the 1% you quote?
Rick Collins Approximately 10% of Americans are veterans. Estimates vary on what percentage of veterans have seen active duty, and who of these have actually seen combat. PTSD would generally be considered to be connected to combat, and exposure to violence. I saw no mention of "only one percent of Americans have served in the military" in your cited source. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed your piece and it deals with a very worthy issue.