A rolling river on the Monday OPEN thread
Shot by Dan Sunday in Salem
“If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: ‘President Can’t Swim.’ “
Lyndon B. Johnson
May 21, 2012 - 10:27 AM
May 21, 2012 - 10:27 AM
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Thursday, May 23, 2013
THE ROANOKE TIMES
Dan, Rooster Walk is coming up this weekend. Anyone wanting a great time for a great cause should head down. The festival site is at Blue Mountain, about 30 minutes from Roanoke. A beautiful setting with two stages, camping, gentle stream, and fantastic music. Lt Dan is playing a special benefit Thursday night and the remaining benefit follows Friday and Sat. Check it out!
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/we-recommend-walker-his-removal-isnt-justified-l55ecb6-152111305.html?page=1
GAME SET MATCH! The liberal Milwaukee major newspaper endorses Walker over their own Milwaukee mayor. Somebody put Ed Shultz on a suicide watch.
Beautiful picture, Dan.
A reminder in the paper today that “politically conservative values” Hidden Valley had 57 valedictorians last year (and about the same number this year) because, as one county administrator says, it’s just too “stressful” for kids to try to be number 1. Meanwhile, PH and Fleming, you know, those radical lefty places that reward EVERYBODY equally, each have exactly one valedictorian — the kid with the very best GPA.
Personally I favor letting each school do what it wants, but it’s some right wingers out there who have declared that only liberal places are afraid to reward just the best.
GDAD (4)
You are obviously bitter this issue. Did you have the 53rd best GPA at your high school and yet you didn’t get to give a speech?
I’m sure your class would have enjoyed you lecturing about the rewards of paying high taxes and the evil nature of the “1%”. How uplifting.
@4 I agree gdad. This falls along the lines of giving every kid a trophy. People need to learn how to lose gracefully. It’s a pretty important part of growing up. Rewarding every darn thing is setting kids up to have unrealistic expectations about life. It’s silly. There is only one valedictorian. Terps, do you really support having 57 valedictorians? That makes sense to you?
That is a very lovely picture Dan! Terps, Ed Schultz has plenty to rave on about, no worries. The conservatives are a gift that keeps on giving. I happen to agree with the paper. Walker is a sack of _____ but he was duly elected and that is what can happen. Recalls and Impeachments should be for real crimes.
#5 Bitter? Where did you get that, terps? Making up new stuff? Right wingers are the ones who keep complaining that liberals reward every kid no matter what they do. And where have you ever seen me commenting on the “evil nature” of the 1 percent? Oh, that’s right, you made that up, too.
I had no business giving any sort of speech to my high school class, nor would I have wanted to. I finished with grades good enough to get into my first choice of college, but far from spectacular. Our valedictorian, OTOH, never had anything below an A in 12 years of school. SHE deserved to give the speech.
Classic conservative issue avoidance, terps. Gdad makes a concise and factual point and the best you can do is toss smart@ss comments at him. No wonder nobody around here takes you seriously.
It is hardly all about being PC. I graduated in 1976 and we had a “Top 10″ instead of Valedictorian and Salutatorian. So what? Was Bill Gates a Valedictorian? Zuckerberg? Boehner? Bush? Palin? Biden? Pelosi? Who cares? This is just typical mindless BS that politics devolves into rather than actually discussing or trying to understand the issues. Maybe they’re right, maybe we can’t handle the truth.
Miriam:
“This falls along the lines of giving every kid a trophy. People need to learn how to lose gracefully. It’s a pretty important part of growing up. Rewarding every darn thing is setting kids up to have unrealistic expectations about life. It’s silly.”
+1 Miriam. When winning no longer means anything, there is no competition, but there is no longer any drive to achieve either. Not everybody can be winners, but we can all be losers!
gdad, we’ve all been laughing our heads off in the office about that. And some of the people here have kids in that school. It’s hysterical. Roanoke County…where every kid’s a winner and everyone get’s a trophy!
terps just has to trot out anything – no matter how utterly nonsensical – to disagree with gdad, no matter what gdad says.
Gotta love a school where, what…10% of the graduating class calls themselves “valedictorians”.
Obviously what Hidden Valley finds too stressful is the parents of 56 other children. Either do it right with 1 and 2, a Top Ten or simply nothing. 57 Valedictorians is a joke not an achievement.
More good news: http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/05/limbaugh-takes-postfluke-ratings-hit-124058.html
Didn’t take the Obamafia long to get to this guy when he dared fall from lockstep and actually speak his mind.
http://news.yahoo.com/cory-booker-walks-back-criticism-obama-campaign-bain-105420351–abc-news-politics.html
We had a Valedictorian, Saludatorian, and that was all. Students graduating with over a 4.0 got to sit on the stage during graduation as an added recognition, but nothing more (13 total in my class of just under 500). And this was before a lot of school systems started giving grades of a 5.0 on a 4-point scale for certain AP classes. My school gave a 0.25 point bump for getting an A in an AP class (0.10 for a B), but that’s it. And, they graded on a tougher scale where anything below 70 was failing, and you had to get a 94 for an A.
Wonder how many years it would take PH to find 54 students with 4.0 averages. And PH has a forced monopoly on the Gov. school to boot. And they STILL can’t compete with the county schools.
You can understand the jealousy. Go VWCC!!
#11:
If one thinks that people can act ethically and morally without adherence to formal religious tenets, then analogously, why would one think that there can be no drive to achieve without competition? I think that idea is reflexively repeated from unexamined absorption of a “winning is the only thing that ever matters” mindset.
57 Valedictorians is a joke not an achievement.
When the goal at your school is to ride shotgun in your redneck boyfriend’s junker, I can understand why the idea of 54 students with a 4.0 average is beyond comprehension.
#12 Just think, Kristen, both your son and mine would have been “valedictorians” under the Roanoke County system.
Lobbyists STILL flooding the White House.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-visitor-logs-show-lobbying-going-strong/2012/05/20/gIQA2ok4dU_story.html?wprss=
But, Obama PLEDGED!
7) Dan
Did you see that? Sandi endorsed Walker in Wisconsin. This group of libs is starting to make some progress. Next I need Sandi to endorse Brown over Warren and we will have arrived.
The story Sandi linked to is about Rush Limbaugh’s plunging ratings (in some cases down by more than 30 percent) in some major cities among listeners who advertisers want to attract. They make it pretty obvious that Rush has hurt himself, long-term, by calling Sandra Fluke “a slut” and “a prostitute.”
I did not “endorse” Walker, I just told the truth, that even his despicableness does not rise to what recall and impeachment are meant to be used for. Something conservatives are obviously incapable of doing (Clinton).
I will never endorse Brown over Warren or anyone else! He is a jerk IMO. I love and admire Elizabeth Warren with complete devotion. She is the breath of fresh air this nation needs more of. Not perfect, but a truly selfless politician IMO.
Warren, when there is nothing better to be had by working harder or smarter than your neighbor, laziness will level people out. Also, “winning” is subjective and relative. I’ve caught my biggest fish and run my fastest pass while losing the biggest fish pot and losing the round, respectively. Those times I sure didn’t feel like a loser and had hope of doing better next time. There is definitely something to be said for doing one’s best whether you’ve bested everyone else or not.
No kidding gdad. Had I know what sort of hilarious nomenclature they used at HV I might have moved to the county just to have our family’s first valedictorian. I was silly…I thought it meant “first in the class”. At HV it’s more like…Yay you…you tried really hard!
Watch Suzie tie herself in knots trying to justify the ridiculous feel good spectacle of 57 Valedictorians in the County when we all know she would rip the City if they even suggested a Top Ten. You are as consistent as a psychotic person can be I suppose. You are truly a pathetic joke. Forget us knowing who you are, you better hope conservatives never find out.
Do any of them get to give a speech? How do they decide which one?
Does Cave Spring do this too? Do 57 kids from Hidden Valley actually claim to be #1 in the class on their college applications? How the heck do you rank a class you have a 10%-way tie for first?
Ok, I’m sorry…my stats are wrong. Wiki reports that last year HV had 253 seniors. So it’s more like a 20%-way tie for first.
@26 “you tried really hard!” got my one HV grad daughter 38 college credit hours and knocked a year of tuition off her bachelor’s degree, saving her dad and I thousands of dollars. “you tried really hard!” earned our other HV grad daughter a presidential scholarship and out of all the general education classes in college. Somewhat better than a “participation trophy”.
There is always something better to be had by working harder or smarter than you even think you can. I taught my children that the best was expected, which is what I was taught, I had to explain a B like it was a D and it had better not happen again. The family joke on report card day was “who’s gonna need a pillow?” I was not taught to keep up with the Jones’ or that the world was a competition in the sense of who was willing to ‘die for it’. Competition is way over rated. Integrity is a self-fulfilling prophecy, every time.
Check out the 60 Minutes interview about the Lt. Dan ban Band at http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/05/14/Disabled-troops-inspire-Gary-Sinise
that Rush has hurt himself, long-term, by calling Sandra Fluke “a prostitute.”
He should not be pointing fingers… he will SAY anything for money!
That’s great dawn but none of those things pertain to being an actual class valedictorian.
Well, we now know who to blame for the dumbing down of America – the Tea Party.
http://gawker.com/5912012/american-idiots-congress-dumbs-itself-down-one-full-grade-level
There’s a great quote from an upcoming HBO series written by Aaron Sorkin that, I believe, epitomizes all that is wrong with conservatives:
“I am a conservative, but I seem liberal because I believe hurricanes are caused by high barometric pressure and not by gay marriage.”
John, your reply in #25 seems to show the unexamined thinking that I mentioned, because even when you focused only on your own performance you still framed it in the context of activities that involved others. But there are other types of achievement that can be pursued without anyone else involved, and thus pursuit of the achievement is not driven by “winning”. So I profoundly disagree with your declared belief that “When winning no longer means anything…there is no longer any drive to achieve”, although I certainly recognize it as an overwhelmingly common, but not inevitable, mindset.
If you now try to put forth a redefinition of “winning” to mean surmounting natural obstacles or those of one’s own devising, that will be changing the parameters that you chose in your first post, in which “winning” in an interpersonal context was the subject. And that’s why my use of the word “unexamined” was quite deliberate.
Uhhh….there is only one #1. Obviously.
Rush has a bigger audience than the Roanoke Times.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/19/bill-maher-new-rule-liberty-university_n_1530400.html
“You can’t expect me to believe anything Mitt Romney said last week at Liberty University, because a) he’s a liar and b) Liberty University isn’t really a university,” Maher began. “It’s not like an actual statesman visited a real college. It’s more like the Tupac hologram visited Disneyland and said what he would do as president during the Main Street Electrical Parade.”
dawn
Congrats on your daughter earning so many college credits in high school. Our kids have done the same thing. It sure saves a lot of money!
For once, Henry,I agree with you.
val·e·dic·to·ri·an (vl-dk-tôr-n, -tr-)
n.
The student with the highest academic rank in a class who delivers the valedictory at graduation.
Someone needs to explain this to HV.
#36 Quality is preferrable to quantity any day. Lots of sleazeball celebrities have huge audiences. That doesn’t mean that they are worth watching or listening to, it just proves what bad taste some people have.
Warren:
“But there are other types of achievement that can be pursued without anyone else involved,”
I don’t agree with you. If someone climbs Mount Everest, it is a singular achievement, yes. It is winning against the mountain, yes. What makes “winning” against the mountain such an achievement to the achiever…? Because so few can do the same. If everyone could do it, there would be no feeling of the exceptional. If only a few could not do it, they few in the “could not” club, would feel an achievement in overcoming their handicap.
With absolutely no context in which to frame something as a worthy achievement, what makes for one? What’s to tell someone they have achieved?
Also, I’m with Kristen and Henry on this. There is ONE valedictorian. Period.
No kidding gdad. Had I know what sort of hilarious nomenclature they used at HV I might have moved to the county just to have our family’s first valedictorian.
Not really. PH kids can get into the Gov. School if they can walk and chew gum, thus artificially inflating their GPAs. If your kid went to HV, he would have had to have been one of two allowed in the RVGS in his grade. I think we can both agree that would have been exceedingly unlikely.
Is “valedictorian” the new “unique”?
Ah, the inflation/devaluation of superlatives.
http://tinyurl.com/7ln93rs
Kristen at #39: add:
Hidden Valedictorian
noun: the single or very few students whose accomplishments exceed those of their classmates but are obscured by inflated awarding of the title valedictorian.
Ex.: “My niece was hidden valedictorian at Hidden Valley”.
57 valedictorians is ridiculous, it makes the achievement meaningless.
To reintroduce a topic that I have posted about in the past.
What do folk think of owners having to prove they were not involved in drug trafficking or some other unlawful activity in civil actions even when no related criminal charges have been brought against them, much less proven?
http://tinyurl.com/75nvhdm
**
Civil Asset Forfeiture and the ‘Piratical’ State
Posted by Walter Olson
We at the Cato Institute have warned time and time again of the dangers of civil forfeiture laws, which empower law enforcement authorities to seize cars, money, houses and office equipment alleged (often on a flimsy basis) to have been used to advance unlawful conduct. Even if no related criminal charges are brought — or even if the defendant manages convincingly to beat those charges — the law enforcement agencies often assert a right to keep the property, giving it back, if at all, only after costly litigation. In the mean time, finding a lawyer to fight the process can be difficult because the government has seized the assets that would ordinarily be used to pay that lawyer.
In recent days a crop of especially outrageous forfeiture stories has been making headlines:
SNIP
**
———-
Also: http://tinyurl.com/77mthgq
**
Motel owner faces asset forfeiture despite innocence
By Editorial Board, Published: February 16
THE MOTEL CASWELL, a modest motel just outside of Boston, has been owned by proprietor Russell H. Caswell’s family for 60 years. Now he may lose it, if the Justice Department gets its way.
The motel is the target of an asset forfeiture proceeding that entitles the federal government to seize property that has been used in the commission of a crime. This is true even if the owner is not accused of criminal wrongdoing. Local law enforcement groups that team up with the federal government may be awarded up to 80 percent of the proceeds from such seizures. According to the Institute for Justice, which is representing Mr. Caswell, such “equitable sharing” payments from the federal government to states have increased dramatically in recent years, from $200 million in 2000 to roughly $400 million in 2008.
SNIP
[Emphasis added]
**
John at #41, I also believe that Hidden Valley’s 20% “valedictorian” rate is absurd; I hope you’re not implying that I don’t.
But I also say unequivocally that your belief that relentless competition is the only path to achievement is just as absurd. There are all sorts of important achievements that have been pursued outside of a competitive framework. For example, William Harvey’s description of the circulatory system could only (and lamely) be said to have been competing for intellectual primacy AFTER publication, but he didn’t create the original achievement from any sense of competition at all. Nor were any number of other intellectual breakthoughs or inventions; the pursuit of the vision was it’s own impetus.
And it’s often true of interpersonal achievements, too: if my care of a person with a severe birth defect has allowed her to reach age forty-nine without needing any meds, it was surely an interpersonal effort, but where was the competition? Since even many “normal” people rely on an intake of all sorts of things to get by, for us it is not seen as “overcoming a handicap” as you put it, but as an achievement in and of itself, without any competitive goal.
John, it sounds as though you have accepted without question the American mania for making all things a competition. The self-certainty that characterizes many of your posts is consistent with such a mindset. You may have heard of Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, a wonderful guy, coach and leader, but a mere football coach, not someone dealing with anything of lasting consequence. His aphorism, which he only used for football but is so beloved by those who want to make every aspect of life a competition, was that “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”. It’s self-certainty about the supremacy of competition summed up in seven words. But the competition addicts who love that quote are dishonestly selective in it’s application. Because if we apply that ethos to EVERYTHING, then the truth is that when Coach Lombardi got scheduled to compete against the opponent named Cancer, it beat him six feet into the ground. If there were only competitive winners or losers, according to the philosophy that some say Lombardi espoused and never amended one has to judge him a loser, but I cannot. There is much more to life than competition, including many of the best parts, but those who have no drive to achieve without competition will never know some of them.
All these avatars i’ve copied and stored from at least five people. Gonna make it mighty confusing for Miss Pflugrad.
And for the second time in today I’ve baited Contradad into switching. This guy folds up like an accordion.
A piece of pork hanging from
an ill baited hook with its
dull point protuding doesnt necessarliy
qualify as bait.
It more than likely is viewed as a not-even-funny
fish Joke..
Only the guppies giggle.
Warren:
“…if my care of a person with a severe birth defect has allowed her to reach age forty-nine without needing any meds, it was surely an interpersonal effort, but where was the competition?”
You competed with your expectations, if nothing else. If things went south, you’d have to come from behind.
“There is much more to life than competition, including many of the best parts,”
I agree.
“…but those who have no drive to achieve without competition will never know some of them.”
I agree with this too. I didn’t say that competition was essential to every good experience in life; that would be maddening. I do believe that competition does work against laziness and is a chisel for achievement’s granite.
#46 Oops, suzie trying to change the topic when she’s getting beaten to pieces on the valedictorian thing.
BTW, suze, PH had about 40 kids with the 4.0 GPA last year, and quite a few weren’t in the gov school, mine included.
#29 dawn, I brought this up today because our least favorite troll, suzie, occasionally mouths off about how liberals award kids for simply chewing gum, while Hidden Valley is a bastion of conservatism where they don’t do that sort of thing; they only give awards and titles to the very top of the best. Apparently being conservative also makes your volleyball players taller, but that’s another topic.
I was not demeaning the accomplishments of any of the kids at HV (unlike the way suzie insults other people’s kids; there’s a very strong bitterness there) but instead was displaying her idiocy for all to see. You can see the way she replied, with more bitterness and insults. I nailed her butt to the wall and she knows it.
Bravo for your girls and their achievements. My daughter took about 32 credits into college and my son also took about 25. It would have been more but the university advised him NOT to take credits for the 5′s on the AP scores in his science major.
” If your kid went to HV, he would have had to have been one of two allowed in the RVGS in his grade. I think we can both agree that would have been exceedingly unlikely.”
And where does your kid go to school? Oh, wait. That’s right. God didn’t choose to bless you with children.
I think it’s funny that Screwzie has assigned a gender to me now, seeing as she knows absoLutely nothing about me.
It’s also funny that, along wIth posting insults about Limpballs, all I have to do is chAnge my avataR to get a reaction out of her.
Screwzie just can’t quit me. It’s flattering, really.
“There’s a great quote from an upcoming HBO series written by Aaron Sorkin that, I believe, epitomizes all that is wrong with conservatives:
“I am a conservative, but I seem liberal because I believe hurricanes are caused by high barometric pressure and not by gay marriage.””
I hope Aaron Sorkin reviews the science behind that quote. Hurricanes have extremely LOW barometric pressure, and are caused by a multitude of conditions…
Geez, that’s embarrassing.
The story Sandi linked to is about Rush Limbaugh’s plunging ratings (in some cases down by more than 30 percent) in some major cities among listeners who advertisers want to attract. They make it pretty obvious that Rush has hurt himself, long-term, by calling Sandra Fluke “a slut” and “a prostitute.”
That’s because his ratings spiked the in the weeks after the incident. Now they are at levels before then. And up in some areas like San Francisco. Why is it always up to me to be the journalist and tell the whole story?
Has anyone else noticed Screwzie’s meltdown? I know she’s mad because I’m using Sandra Dee as my avatar, but she is really losing it all over the blog, spewing nonsense and insults right and left.
How funny and sad at the same time.
LMAOOOOOOOOOO!
#42 Just reread this and it’s quite plain you have no idea. If to be an HV valedictorian you would have had to have been one of the two accepted into the gov school, how is is that HV has 57 “valedictorians”? And are you saying that the HV kids in the gov school have artificially inflated GPAs?
Kids not in the gov school can have GPAs over 4.0, as evidenced by the 57 “valedictorians” at HV.
Do you ever listen to how dumb you sound?
#50: “You competed with your expectations, if nothing else. If things went south, you’d have to come from behind.’
John, your attempt at reading our minds is worse than lousy. To the extent that I can make sense of the above statement (not much) it sounds like the kind of reach made by someone who fears “losing” (because they see everything as competition with winners and losers). Instead of seemingly trying to protect your own self-certainty, you should stop on this one while you’re behind. You said that there is no achievement without a competitive impetus, now you own it.
RE: Drew Expo.
10 cops control 500 hooligans? You’ll forgive me for calling BS.
Where’s the REAL reporting?
This really isn’t news. We all have known this for some time.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/21/opinion/zelizer-congress-polarization/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7
#54 & 57 Da suzwe has these manic periods where she REALLY gets completely out of whack. This seems to be one of those times. Over on another thread she’s actually provoked people wither her weirdness and insults to continue talking about a topic she really doesn’t care for and has no desire to see continue.
And this whole Contra and gdad thing that she keeps pushing is just beyond creepy. Dan knows both of us and unless I’m a hell of a disguise artist knows we’re different people.
BTW, suze, PH had about 40 kids with the 4.0 GPA last year, and quite a few weren’t in the gov school, mine included.
Sorry your kid couldn’t get into the RVGS when so many of his classmates did. Maybe that explains the college thing.
@47 – Warren, is your example in that post autobiographical? Not that it is any of my business, but I’m just nosey.
There are plenty of classes that are weighted…you don’t have to be in gov to get a weighted class. That 20% of HV’s students have a 4.0 or over illustrates that…that and a serious grade inflation problem.
Warren…gives HV a whole new meaning!
We ended up with more credits for things than the school allowed us to use, and now with round 2 I don’t know if it’s better to pay for the dual enrollment credits or stick with just AP?
Poor Cory Booker. He told the truth. Now he’s being forced to serve his penance. The Team 0bama thugs have forced him to bend over backwards to backtrack. Yesterday he was on Mr. Maddow’s show to blame everything on Republicans.
http://news.yahoo.com/cory-booker-fit-tied-gops-stand-cory-booker-103428028–abc-news-politics.html
Loyal liberals aren’t allowed to praise free enterprise. How could he violate that cardinal rule?
#63 My son had no interest in gov school. He did, however, take every AP course available except one.
Note that suzie still can’t address the topic head on because she has no defense whatsoever for the county declaring everybody in the world a valedictorian. And out of embarrassment she keeps trying to change the subject. Unsuccessfully.
#66 Note that suzie also had to change the topic because she got caught in the idiotic claim that to be a valedictorian at HV, your child would have to be one of the 2 HV kids who got into RVGS. Which doesn’t exactly mesh with the fact that HV had 57 “valedictorians” last year.
Funny how the GOP misses the part where they “nauseated” him too!
We ended up with more credits for things than the school allowed us to use, and now with round 2 I don’t know if it’s better to pay for the dual enrollment credits or stick with just AP?
Comment by Kristen — May 22, 2012 @ 9:04 am
Kristen,
Each school has rules on which AP scores they give credit for. I don’t know which community college the “dual credits” are coming from, but that is a college transcript and those are credits from an accredited college. The articulations between VCCS colleges and the public senior colleges in Virginia are pretty well defined and the transfer of credit between them works reasonably well in my experience. If you are able to do so I’d pay for the “dual credits.”
As an aside, our two youngest sons earned “dual credits” while we lived on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and there were no problems getting those credits accepted at Virginia Tech or Longwood. Also, at the time, the local school boards in the Shore paid the tuition not the student. Given today’s budget challenges, I’m not sure that’s still the case.
#66 Note that suzie also had to change the topic because she got caught in the idiotic claim that to be a valedictorian at HV, your child would have to be one of the 2 HV kids who got into RVGS. Which doesn’t exactly mesh with the fact that HV had 57 “valedictorians” last year.
Nope, the point was that the PH kid may not have had the 4.0 at HV without the help of the RVGS grade boost. Sorry you can’t keep up, Gdad. I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
A great tip from several of the klatsch ladies (who more than represent those 54 HV families) is for kids to make sure they get 4 or 5 on the APs in English and History so they could bypass those courses most likely to be rife with liberal professors in college. If the kid is an engineering major, they can conceivably never have a liberal professor at Tech or UVa, a feat deserving of a citation in itself.
Miriam, yes it is.
@73 Warren, thank you for the response. That sounds (with very little information to go on) like a very difficult and amazing journey. It also makes you older than I had pictured you, so I am adjusting my mental image of the poster behind “Warren”. Congratulations on making such a huge, monumental difference in another person’s life.
#71 And your “point,” troll suzie, is entirely wrong, as I already explained. PH has plenty of weighted courses OUTSIDE of the gov school starting as early as 9th grade. But of course you were completely unaware of that because you haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.
“A great tip from several of the klatsch ladies (who more than represent those 54 HV families)….”
How can several ladies ‘more than represent’ something? Makes no sense.
#72 suzie is so embarrassed that HV recognizes everybody and his brother as a “valedictorian” that she’s even taken to reducing the number from last year from 57 to 54.
“72.A great tip from several of the klatsch ladies (who more than represent those 54 HV families) is for kids to make sure they get 4 or 5 on the APs in English and History…”
Wow. 4s and 5s. Who knew.
#71 And your “point,” troll suzie, is entirely wrong, as I already explained. PH has plenty of weighted courses OUTSIDE of the gov school starting as early as 9th grade. But of course you were completely unaware of that because you haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.
Since every single Gov school course is weighted, it’s impossible to get as many weighted courses in the regular school curriculum, but you wouldn’t know that, because your kid couldn’t get into the RVGS despite a huge number of his classmates getting in.
Dang. Only 40 kids from AAA PH made 4.0 despite all those gov school kids while 54 AA HV kids made it with very little gov school boost. And we did it without a “meals” tax.
Let the county envy continue!
“Instead of seemingly trying to protect your own self-certainty, you should stop on this one while you’re behind.”
No worries Warren. I’ll never give you my solicited opinion again.
#79 Kids take classes outside of the gov school, including non-weighted classes, since gov school is only half a day. But suzie wouldn’t know that because she hasn’t the slightest idea what she’s talking about.
Man that was easy.
“Let the county envy continue!”
The county envies Salem schools, and rightly so.
#80 suzie still hasn’t managed a comment on the REAL topic here — the fact that HV (and the other county schools) give “valedictorian” awards to everybody under the sun, thus cheapening the meaning of the recognition, while PH and Fleming give it only to the true valedictorian.
#72 Wow, the “klatsch ladies” thought that up all by themselves? What friggin’ eggheads. Well, I just thought this one up myself — get a 4 or 5 on ALL AP tests and you skip even more courses and save money. I’m even smarter than your imaginary friends.
Wow. 4s and 5s. Who knew.
Not that you’d have any reason to know this, but only 4s and 5s will get credit for courses at VT, and only 5s for UVa.
I don’t know what they do at Mason.
#79 Kids take classes outside of the gov school, including non-weighted classes, since gov school is only half a day. But suzie wouldn’t know that because she hasn’t the slightest idea what she’s talking about.
Obviously the RVGS isn’t a full day since they don’t teach English and History there. Sorry the place didn’t work out for you all.
If you take a fencing course, can you get duel credit?
#87 At least suzie acknowledges that she got it wrong and/or lied the first time when she suggested that gov school kids get NOTHING but weighted courses.
#87 At least suzie acknowledges that she got it wrong and/or lied the first time when she suggested that gov school kids get NOTHING but weighted courses.
There ARE only weighted courses at the Gov School.
It’s amazing. I don’t have any kids, but my general knowledge of the eduational system is better than those who are supposedly involved. I guess that’s why I’m me and you all are whatever it is you are.
Go Western!!!
Warren, compared to yours, mine is a tiny little mind, but thanks for proving my point so well. Integrity is a self-fulfilling prophecy, competition does not have to drive it, it drives itself. Thanks for your #47 post, someday, I would love to shake your hand.
no one in govt schools get courses in anything, all they get is indoctrination propaganda
#86 BTW, it was extremely ungrateful of me not to thank suzie for acknowledging what an achievement it was for my son to get all those credits at Tech, which she pointed out accepts only 4s and 5s on AP exams.
#80 Tell you what, troll suzie, once the county starts having to educate and help the percentage of extremely poor and immigrant kids the city deals with, get back to me. Except that if that were to happen, some of those HV and CS parents would have to find yet another school to flee to.
“Suzie says:
It’s amazing. I don’t have any kids, but my general knowledge of the eduational system is better than those who are supposedly involved. I guess that’s why I’m me and you all are whatever it is you are.”
You can insult other posters and their children all you want Screwzie, but the simple fact is they HAVE kids for you to insult. You do not and this has obviously created a deep, abiding bitterness in you.
No one on this blog, right, left, liberal, conservative, black, white, tall, short, old, young, or otherwise, who has children wants to trade places with you or anyone else who has no children. There is nothing you own that is as valuable as the relationship between a parent and child.
Your claims of Suzie-envy only reveal your envy of the posters who are parents.
#90 And are all of their courses outside of gov school weighted? We’ll wait for that answer from you.
Not for nothing, pammala, but wherever you went to school should have committed more educational time to language basics.
” Tell you what, troll suzie, once the county starts having to educate and help the percentage of extremely poor and immigrant kids the city deals with, get back to me.”
Once word gets out that you have a 25% chance of being valedictorian out there in the county, new residents might start flocking there!
92.”no one in govt schools get courses in anything, all they get is indoctrination propaganda”
You are quite an effective spokesperson, pammala!
#98 I think pammala once said she went to PH. Unfortunately, she alone makes a pretty good case for some of the crap suzie spews.
#91, Sandi, thanks, but you needn’t be so effusive about me, since you can be proud of your own ability to see the humane middle ground as well as anyone.
For me, it’s gratifying enough to have another friend right on the other side of town who has shared some of the same experiences, even unknowingly. I’m the guy over there who doesn’t know that girl and her boyfriend in the Chevelle at the same stoplight on some Christmas shopping day in the ’70′s, or maybe one moment we shared the same busy signal when calling a radio station with the phrase that pays. We’ve probably both heard someone mention something near “Burnt Chimbleys”. That kind of stuff. Knowing that such random incidental moments are still alive in someone with local or cyber proximity to me is kind of reassuring, as my own personal circle erodes during life’s course.
But I’ve learned that I can derive a similar thing from people like Dan, who shared the same timeframe in a different locale, and even from people of other generations and distant places, if they are attuned to the same contours of life. That suggests to me that it’s not just nostalgia or homeboy validation that I’m talking about, but more of a reassurance that my own sense of things matches up with other’s reality. So I’m going to thank you, too, Sandi, for being among those who’ve provided me that.
see? typical liberal replies..so worried about grammar but not the message..that is why your idiot boy is losing babe!
see? typical liberal replies..so worried about grammar but not the message..that is why your idiot boy is losing babe!
Pammala,
If you notice, they rarely address the topic at hand because they know they can’t rebut. That’s why they focus on other things and/or insult.
Once word gets out that you have a 25% chance of being valedictorian out there in the county, new residents might start flocking there!
It doesn’t work for the city riff-raff, babe. Don’t go giving folks false hope. It works for well-raised kids from conservative families whose parents encourage achievement. And that describes the culture in SW County.
#102 Said the troll who regularly avoids the topic when she’s been caught in a lie or mistake. And notice how she jumps on typos by liberals but never, ever comments about the worst offender on the blog?
#101 pammala, if you ever said anything worth commenting on we’d do so. Your last “message” was a simplistic generalized right-wing talking point that’s been destroyed so many times it doesn’t even merit as much comment as I’m making right now.
We get it — you hate and despise Obama and public schools and you love and adore suzie. What’s to comment on other than to disagree and make fun of your lack of writing and grammar ability?
#96 No answer from suzie, of course.
Just be careful not to spell “nickel” wrong, pammalalala. Suzie’s been on a tear about that misspelling, by Kristen, on May 1 — even though Kristen’s single error on that day was actually a jab for Suzie herself having misspelled the word in comment #30 on this thread:
“Can I say something? If your daughter has piercings anywhere other than in her earlobes, you as a parent have lost control.
Something I see in teen boys that is not only disturbing but a little grotesque –ear gauges. These are holes in the ear lobe the size of a nickle or quarter that holds a hollow or solid ear piece. If I had a boy like that, I’d get counseling for him pronto.”
Comment by Suzie
The culture of Tanglewood, or Oak Grove, or Cave Spring. It’s a beautiful thing!
Thanks Warren and once again you articulated so well what I have felt. There is a sense of place and sharing that can be local and can be time. I think people gravitate and respond to each other in mysterious and wonderful ways and you add so much to this blog, it makes it worth the bile we sometimes have to wade through. I love a good conversation. Wish we could have more of them here.
Thanks to all of you, Dan, Kristen, Gdad, Miriam, Contra, Art, Joe, Debbie, Ernie, Ken, Lori, Ron, Lynda, Steve C, Bill Perdue, Richard Beason, William Bova, Dave, Hillary and anyone I left out unintentionally, for being my friends and people I love to hear from. Thanks also to Dave Hicks, Michael Howdyshell, and John Wilburn for adding to many discussions. The good news is that the trolls, no matter how vile, are at least still outnumbered.
LOL, doggone good one Dan!!
“Suzie’s been on a tear about that misspelling, by Kristen, on May 1…”
Which I completely didn’t notice. “tear” fail.
pammala, had you made a point worth responding to, I would have. And Obama’s not losing, so I’m not clear why you bothered regurgitating that on the screen.
“nickle”
Monumentally unimportant!
Most everyone here is a good speller, uses good grammar, and has good composition skills (above average, at that), but we’ve all had our goofs from time to time. Give it a rest. It’s not like we’re composing a resume. In fact, “nickle” may not have been a mental misspelling as much as a result of some transposed letters while typing, which I do more often than I would like to think.
even though Kristen’s single error on that day was actually a jab for Suzie herself having misspelled the word in comment #30 on this thread:
Nice try, Dan. She didn’t know how to spell the word and I corrected it, so I obviously knew how to spell the word. That being the case, if there was an error earlier, it was either a typo or you altered it.
“nickle”
Monumentally unimportant!
Most everyone here is a good speller, uses good grammar, and has good composition skills (above average, at that), but we’ve all had our goofs from time to time. Give it a rest. It’s not like we’re composing a resume
John W scolds my “nickle’ correction but excuses the incessant barrage against Pammala by the leftwing nuts who are afraid to take on her arguments. Par for the course.
Thanks to all of you, Dan, Kristen, Gdad, Miriam, Contra, Art, Joe, Debbie, Ernie, Ken, Lori, Ron, Lynda, Steve C, Bill Perdue, Richard Beason, William Bova, Dave, Hillary and anyone I left out unintentionally, for being my friends and people I love to hear from. Thanks also to Dave Hicks, Michael Howdyshell, and John Wilburn for adding to many discussions. The good news is that the trolls, no matter how vile, are at least still outnumbered.
Has anyone ever noticed Sandi’s “compliments” always contain an insult to someone else. Therefore it’s not really a compliment, it’s another occasion for that angry person to spew more hatred.
#90 And are all of their courses outside of gov school weighted? We’ll wait for that answer from you.
If each student takes the maximum amount of weighted courses possible, there is no way the regular school student can match the RVGS student in number weighted courses.
Now let’s figure some other way Gdad can beat this dead horse some more.
Yes a typo from anyone is “Monumentally unimportant!” (excepting pammala’s tortured prose, that is a bridge too far!), however the twits like Suzie, who even made the original mistake, somehow think it is a nit that needs to be picked. Must be the “monkey misinformation troll” in her.
Which is also why we cannot have a good, thought provoking and in-depth conversation on here about anything. The food throwers from Animal House always show up. It is their oxygen.
And like “A Clockwork Orange” she chimes in…still picking.
Suzie,
I didn’t alter anything. You made the error, Kristen didn’t bother noting that, then when she did it you wrote at least 8 critical comments over 3 weeks about it. Your obsession is bizarre to say the least. You sound like you need a lot of help — but you’ve probably already alienated every psychiatrist in the Roanoke Valley.
You’re wrong as usual Suzie because AP classes are weighted too. And a kid not in Gov can take AP math and science and achieve the same GPA results, as is evidenced by the fact that 25% of the class at HVHS has a GPA over 4.0. You don’t know what you’re talking about so why don’t YOU “drop it”.
Kristen’s “nickle” error was particularly delicious because she committed it while making a snarky comment. So, yeah, I guess I do take special relish tossing that one back at opportune moments. It certainly seems to find the mark every time.
Thank you Dan…
It could be called I suppose
OWS (Obesessed With Self)
..Just my “Nickles” Worth.
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m17103TqJX1r1km6u.jpg
Suzie:
“John W scolds my “nickle’ correction but excuses the incessant barrage against Pammala by the leftwing nuts who are afraid to take on her arguments. Par for the course.”
Are you too dumb to see that I’m suggesting the board give YOU a pass on YOUR original misspelling? BTW, Kristen’s humor is quite enjotable, actually.
If pammala made any more sense beyond canned, right wing buffoonery and how ever much racism she thinks she can get by with, I wouldn’t criticize the grammar of her posts. I generally leave people’s education out of it, but her criticism of everyone else leaves her as fair game.
Has anyone ever noticed how Suzie notices her own behavior in others? Ever see Suzie’s “compliments” not contain an insult to someone else? Get the feeling it’s not really a compliment, just another post from that angry person who only spews lies, distortions and hatred? I have noticed and along with her raving hypocrisy, it glows neon.
#117 “Now let’s figure some other way Gdad can beat this dead horse some more.”
suzie is right. I’ll refrain from any more posts pointing out how wrong she was and how I had to school her in how the gov school actually works. I’ve already proven that. I’ve also made my point about how it’s those “conservative values” county schools, not the city schools, that recognize everybody and his brother as valedictorians, thereby cheapening the value of the designation.
#117 BTW, it’s always fun goading you into yet another brainless comment.
#122 “Kristen’s “nickle” error was particularly delicious because she committed it while making a snarky comment.”
Like when suzie misuses “irony” while making a snarky comment. Never fails.
You’re wrong as usual Suzie because AP classes are weighted too. And a kid not in Gov can take AP math and science and achieve the same GPA results, as is evidenced by the fact that 25% of the class at HVHS has a GPA over 4.0. You don’t know what you’re talking about so why don’t YOU “drop it”.
No, kitten. RVGS offers more math/science courses than high school has AP m/s courses. I thought you said your kid went to the Gov. School.
irony
It’s funny how Dan doesn’t mention Gdad’s need for psychiatric care. That guy is the king of moron repetitiveness.
Hey guys. John Wilburn REALLY does want to be accepted as one of you liberal morons. Can’t you just acknowledge he’s in? I hate to see him trying so hard all the time. Dude deserves a rest.
I didn’t alter anything.
Both you and I know you have been dishonest about my posts before. Why on earth would I believe you here?
#103 most ill-informed posted, “for well-raised kids from conservative families whose parents encourage achievement. ”
You know, families like Timothy McVeigh’s family. And they were a military family to boot. Guess one should not generalize or jump to conclusions or pass judgement with so little information on families or individuals.
I can say unequivocally that whether you are a progressive, independent or conservative, and you encourage achievement in your child, they will be far better off – and if you are a hate-filled person with faux Christian values , all around you will be contaminated…most ill-informed demonstrates this with almost every post…it is really sad.
Just think, Kristen, both your son and mine would have been “valedictorians” under the Roanoke County system.
Let’s put it this way. If your kid can start on the PH soccer team, does it mean he can start on the Blacksburg HS soccer team? Hell no.
If a girl makes PH’s volleyball team, does it mean she can play on Cave Spring’s or Hidden Valley’s team? Again, hell no.
See, when you’re from a weaker school, it doesn’t mean you slide right in the same position in a much stronger school. That’s the point I’m trying to make and that you folks can’t seem to get.
Oddly enough Suzie, your original and first “nickle” error must have been “particularly delicious” too, because you also “committed it while making a snarky comment”. So, yeah, you taking “special relish” on that dog and “tossing that one back at opportune moments” only makes you look more pitiful. And who knew that was possible? You should leave that mind to science…if they can find it.
“Kristen’s “nickle” error was particularly delicious…”
Who the heck talks this way.
Both you and I know that I’ve never altered anything in your posts.
(True, I have trashed a handful of the meanest and most uncalled-for ones).
Suzie@134
At what point in your life will consider leaving the culture of high school behind?
We believe Dan.
Kristen @136 – “Who the heck talks this way.”
How about Mitt Romney with “a marvelous budget” speaking of the Ryan budget…
#130 & 134 Look, troll suzie figured out more ways to beat the dead horse!!!
Congrats.
At what point in your life will consider leaving the culture of high school behind?
These people commented on a news story about multiple valedictorians, then trashed county schools. I simply responded and proved I know more about their school system than they do.
(True, I have trashed a handful of the meanest and most uncalled-for ones).
‘Uncalled for’ to Dan is when you ask another blogger a question.
#142 In fact, I did not “trash” county schools. I simply pointed out they are doing exactly what right wingers, including you specifically, accuse liberals of doing — giving everybody a trophy and discouraging competition. I even quoted a county official who said having one valedictorian would be too much “stress” on the poor babies.
Sure did get under your skin to be presented with the truth, didn’t it?
#134 Oh, I see. You mean that all those 4s and 5s my son got on AP exams wouldn’t have happened if he had gone to HV? Strange.
suzie, I know my son and Kristen’s. You don’t. I also know numerous kids who have gone to HV and their parents. Both of our sons would have been “valedictorians” at HV under their current system.
suzie, I know my son and Kristen’s. You don’t. I also know numerous kids who have gone to HV and their parents. Both of our sons would have been “valedictorians” at HV under their current system.
You don’t know that because you’ve never dealt with county schools. They aren’t watered down, and they don’t have “stepping” groups come in and perform when students should be learning.
#146 I know county schools well enough. Better than you know my son, which is not at all.
#146 I see, so somebody’s watering down the AP exams that city students take but making them tougher for HV students? Who knew?
At least now I know how places like Tech can claim so many “valedictorians” in their freshman classes — they probably get 15 or 20 every year from HV alone.
Nothing says “not watered down” like 25 PERCENT OF THE CLASS having a GPA of 4 or over. No inflation there….nope!
At least now I know how places like Tech can claim so many “valedictorians” in their freshman classes — they probably get 15 or 20 every year from HV alone.
Wow. HV envy coupled with VT envy. What a sad way to live life.
There are two types of people in the Roanoke Valley; those who live in 24018 and those who wish they could.
I guess under the HV system I would have been one too. Who knew…I was happy with 6th of 479 from my high school and getting an ROTC scholarship.
Nothing says “not watered down” like 25 PERCENT OF THE CLASS having a GPA of 4 or over. No inflation there….nope!
No, hon. Inflation is when half the school’s class gets watered-down grades from the Governor’s School. (Even the RVGS has to curve it for the less accomplished PM city kids). My friend is a teacher there and she said there are definitely two standards.
Regular-city-school grades are watered down for the same reason.
“There are two types of people in the Roanoke Valley; those who live in 24018 and those who wish they could.”
Those who live in the 24018 zip code wish they could live in Salem.
Anyone who feels like showing up on the county courtroom stairs on any given weekday can live in 24018.
@153 – Not I! Best description of Salem I ever heard was from a guy from California who opened a Spanish/Mediterranean restaurant on Main Street a few years back (it failed) When I asked him how he liked Salem…
Quote “It’s just a bunch of Uppity Hillbillies, their nice enough though.”
The minute you step into college, nobody gives a rats ass who was a valedictorian. And the minute you step into the work force, nobody gives a rats ass what your GPA was.
#150 Sorry, dahlin’, we CHOSE not to move to the HV area (CS area at the time), and my son is attending Tech. Don’t know what you think I’m envying.
#152 suze, you REALLY don’t realize that the whole idea of weighted courses is grade inflation, I don’t care where it happens? That’s pretty thick.
And please don’t bring your phantom teacher “friend” back into this.
“@153 – Not I! Best description of Salem I ever heard was from a guy from California who opened a Spanish/Mediterranean restaurant on Main Street a few years back (it failed) When I asked him how he liked Salem…
Quote “It’s just a bunch of Uppity Hillbillies, their nice enough though.”
Posted on May 25th, 2012″
Those uppity hillbillies sure do have one of the best educational systems in the state.
Suzi,
It hate to disagree with you but check out the PH Lacrosse teams both girls and boys. They can beat any team in the rest of the valley any time any where.
Michael H, Suzie could float a dozen ballons with all the hot air he/she’s full of. He/She could also fertilize every lawn in the Roanoke Valley. I hope he/she has stock in a toilet paper company because he/she is certainly FOS.
“Those who live in the 24018 zip code wish they could live in Salem.”
I wouldn’t trade Christiansburg for either, but if you want to live in 24018 or Salem, I’d be glad to sell you your own place there.
BTW Michael, I find it very hard to take Suzie seriously as a person. To me Suzie is a caricature.
I’m not trading my 24129. The neighbors are great, we have ample shopping with Walmart, Lowes, and Kroger nearby, there’s almost no crime, our BoS chairman lives just a bit further down off the main road, and we can stand outside and use our firearms with almost no problems…excepting a singular angry biddy of a neighbor. Plus, we have dirt-cheap real estate taxes, great services, good schools (not that we need them), and aside from the BoS voting down a $200k grant for an extension of the New River Trail from Xaloy to Randolph Park (and I’m still trying to figure out why, they even lost a substantial land donation as a result, which may kill the project entirely)…their leadership has been pretty darn good.
I love where I live and I love the PH Lacrosse Team! What a game go Boys beat Glass Monday
Wow, there are no homes for sale in 24018? Yeah, what I thought. Pitiful.