Back in the '70's, we called these things "cults" and payed people to "deprogram" children who were sucked into them...just sayin'.

"a strange mixture of Ayn Rand and Jesus Christ."

There's an oxymoron if there ever was one! I can't think of two more polar opposite people!

Wasn't there a documentary about Jesus Camp a couple of years ago that was pretty scary?

I can't imagine a mixture of Ayn Rand and Jesus Christ that wouldn't be strange.

jesuscampthemovie*dot*com. The clips were so disturbing, I chose not to endure the entire thing.

The things some people do to their kids.......

Oh, the brainwashing.... spiritual/emotional abuse in my opinion.

Except for the damned mosquitoes as big as Sikorsky choppers! Dear loving lord!

Carolina Lady - Speaking of 'squitoes; while in SC at an outdoor BBQ one of the southern gentlemen approached me as I arrived and sprayed me down with what he described as the "evening crowd fragrance", I found it very thoughtful that we all smelled the same that evening...LOL...oil of citronella, I believe.

Ok, I admit that our mosquitos are often mistaken for vintage WWII bombers as they pass overhead in formation.....that's why I have a screened in porch. Pay no attention to the rumors that the mosquitos are developing wire cutters!

Kelly, dear, they're called "skeeters" down here, and I have little use for our gentle neighbors to the south...oil of citronella, indeed! (tilts dainty nose into the air) It's eau de nuit citron. Such barbarians!

Dear CLWF, I know; while SC was nice because of ocean, my favorite remains the NC and the Raleigh/Durham area. I wish for the Farmer's Market here in OKC (a lot). Once, at FM I picked up a jar of homemade pineapple preserves and the woman tending the booth took them from my hand and said "Oh, you don't want to buy those...Momma don't do good pineapple" and she handed me the apricot.

Wilson, NC has wonderful BBQ and I still have my t-shirt purchased in Lizard Lick, NC which at the time I was there consisted of a gas station with a sign on one driveway "now entering Lizard Lick" and on the other "now leaving Lizard Lick".

I stayed in Raleigh solo on a biz trip and the manager of the Comfort Inn placed me in the room nearest the office so she could "watch over me"; she also took me to a neighborhood potluck, my first tobacco auction and the local bingo hall. I never felt so "at home and welcome".

Must be a Midwestern thing. I remember growing up in Wisconsin we'd get mosquitoes like you wouldn't believe. The joke was mosquitoes were the State bird. Sadly one of those mosquitoes grew up to be the Governor, sucking the life blood out of the state.

Laura_S - that is THE BEST description of Scott Walker I have heard yet!!!

I knew I loved that lady for a reason! :)

Robbie, dear, y'all have been out in the sun too long.

Please cite the legislation passed by the repub congress since they took power in January that created jobs. I'll make this easy for you.....they have done nothing. They haven't reduced spending, they haven't even proposed a single jobs bill, and have spent most of their time trying to pass legislation on social issues. There is literally nothing that repubs have done to either create or lose jobs.

As for the great jobs that repub governors are doing in states...every single one of them benefited from the federal stimulus package, allowing them to patch holes in their budgets with federal money, retaining teachers, policemen and firemen that otherwise would have lost their jobs. That money is now gone, and states are starting to feel the pinch. The jobs report last month was worse than expected because a good portion of the new jobs created in private sector was counterbalanced by tens of thousands of jobs lost by state government workers. Here in MN, we will almost certainly see a government shutdown in 2 weeks, courtesy of the financial shenanigans of Pawlenty, who left us with a $6.2 billion deficit, pared to $5 billion by improved economic conditions in the state. It will shut down because repubs controlling the legislature have said they will absolutely not raise taxes, and that the $5 billion must all come from spending cuts, primarily to education, healthcare and infrastructure. The governor proposed a 50/50 mix of spending cuts and tax increases, with the taxes mainly coming from increasing taxes on the richest 2% of Minnesotans. Unfortunately, compromise is a word that repubs don't understand, and in two weeks we will see what happens when government shuts down. For the moment, it looks like we will lose the state police, courts, road crews, and a number of smaller departments that primarily exist to serve business with petty things like business licenses, etc.

If repub governors are doing so well, why is Texas $27 billion in debt?

You must have forgotten this ;

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2011/02/boehners_so_be_it_line_revives.html

No, who can forget Boehner's modern take on Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake"? One can only hope that his job is one of the federal jobs that gets eliminated.

RobDon - Huh???????

My above comment was an illustration to demonstrate that just because a statement contains numbers/data, it doesn't mean it is true or doesn't require further explanation.

My comments were meant to mirror the stats attributed to administrators at Ferguson Academy, 90% grad rate and test scores that don't really matter. Few were offering any credible explanation, everyone seemed willing to accept at face value despite strong contradictions and no one was questioning.

See how when someone makes a statement contrary to the narrative you know to make sense you quickly want an explanation and someone to cite credible evidence.

In the end, it turns out to be a moot point. Fortunately, the school will still operate, the District will save $2 million in operating expenses, and hopefully where ever the educational truth lies, the girls will get both a nurturing and a strong academic environment!

While I am glad that CFA is staying open, (and even more glad you weren't really serious about the other stuff in your earlier post), I still find it disturbing that this continues the trend of for-profit education. For-profit colleges have proven to have a lot of problems, for-profit prisons have also been problematic, and of course, for-profit healthcare has led us to the dismal state of healthcare that we have in this country now. In too many cases, we are simply incentivizing bad behavior. While I certainly will not assert the government does everything well, I definitely look with a jaundiced eye at the mindset that says the private sector can always do things better and cheaper than the government.

RobDon, you found your way back again, eh?

Well - considering that the GOP Govs are big on Financial Managers a.k.a. CZARS, the un-elect city govs and put cronies in charge of villages and towns -- I guess they HAVE created SOME jobs but the ratio is about 37-1.

As for fed GOPS...not so much in the job area. REALLY good at shutting down working establishments tho --

just kidding???? Thought you were drinking the KoolAide again.

I sort of agree. (But really more sorry I couldn't have been right about the Republican jobs thing.)

I'm not against private schools or competition in education to spur excellence but I don't really like the way it is being done. Did I read where the per pupil cost for this agency that is now taking over Ferguson is even higher than 12,000 or so DPSD was paying?

I wouldn't be surprised if the cost is higher. It certainly costs more to go to a private college than a public college, (I spent more for 2 years at an electronics schools than I did for 2 years of community college and 3 years at a top public university combined). The capitalist system unrestrained has the same problems as communism...it doesn't take human greed into account.

Yes the 80s were hell on wheels for working people -- after losing their house, living in a pop-up-trailer in camp grounds for 3 years, the family was in therapy to help the kids do better in school -- when asked who she blamed for all the woe her family had gone through...my niece said, 'Reagan'

Sooooo not so much a saint, and for the family, the answer was ..... priceless.

A new report I saw today that CEO pay jumped 28% last year, while average worker pay rose less than 1%, leaving workers making virtually the same as they made back in 1980, when inflation is factored in. Could someone please tell me why execs are getting such massive raises at a time when companies are whining that they need more corporate welfare and lower taxes?

The only time I was ever unemployed in my life was during the Reagan recession, and it was bad enough that when he died, I hoped that someone had remembered to put a stake in his heart.

Because it's the C-suite that makes companies successful, everyone knows that! Workers, pah! We don't need no stinkin' workers!

Oh, we do need workers? Never mind.

Thanks Tricia. Too bad for NY. Too bad for all of us, really.

There goes one of the few true progressive voices we had in Congress.

Incredibly sad. I love Anthony W, but the fact is, we all do stupid things - but sexting provides photos --- bad idea. Just praying his marriage will stay together and there will come a day when he can get back out there and help America again.

Considering Vitter is still in office ... gag ... one would hope AW will be.

for that I agree.

here here

Nancy also was using astrologers to advise Ronny about when to have meetings, take trips, meet foreign dignitaries and the like. Sounds more like "delusional" than "classy".