Common core testing

[Carsman]

Side note: Wow, I just corrected the time clock on my post, (DLST) and it seems corrected it for everyone, is that possible?

[Duchess]

No. It only affected your time.

[Carsman]

No. It only affected your time.

Well, your post on "term limits" read like 4:18 am, and after I changed my time, your's read 6:18 am. I don't know, maybe it's just my PC?
My eyes are bad, but not that bad!

[Blindgreed1]

A great many of the "statistics" cited in Maggot ' s article are either deliberately misleading, erroneous, skewed or laid at Obama's doorstep maliciously (it's his fault he was unsuccessful in making the rest of Washington less corrupt? Huh?)
I don't have the time or inclination to search for it on this phone, but this entire article was parsed and debunked in large degree. I THING but can't swear that it was a site like factcheck.org which is a nonpartisan site known for keeping an eye on all sorts of fibbers and truthbenders.
As for Obamacare: I find it absolutely stunning again and again that people in this country have been brainwashed into thinking universal health care is a horrible thing. Same with cultural tolerance or empathy for the poor. Are you seriously saying that you are angry that your tax dollars are being spent to either feed a poor person and possibly keep him or her alive, or provide that person and their family with reasonable health care to also keep them alive? And don't beg off with a lame excuse about lazy blablabla, the specific citation above mentioned 1 in 5 CHILDREN on welfare.

It astounds me that the same folks calling themselves patriots, who violently oppose any attempt to "go against the constitution" for things like executive orders to provide amnesty or gun restrictions designed to protect American lives, seem to have forgotten that our own declaration of independence asserted that each and every soul in this land was guaranteed inalienable right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Unless they were, you know, black or brown or yellow or Irish or Italian or born in a poorer country or born poor here or female or followed a different ancient prophet or....

Thank the White Tyrant JesusGod most of our tax dollars are actually spent on building ways to kill all those undesirables or this whole human rights bullshit might get out of hand...

Here's the problem with the healthcare pipe dream... It's simple economics Dono. Our entire system is built on capitalism. Always has been. I work in the healthcare system and have seen the preparation for the impact Obamacare would have on the system over the last 5-6 years. The workforce has been cut in half. The workload has not. If anything, it's grown. Everybody is trying to do more with less just to make ends meet. Over time, this will trickle down to the consumer.

[HairOfTheDog]

I haven't come across anything indicating that the health care industry work force will be cut in half in the next 5 - 6 years while the number of health-insured Americans continues to grow.

If that's true, I agree that it's a problem -- it seems unreasonable for anyone to project that the level of efficiency would increase two-fold in that time frame. Curious -- do you have a source for that, Gunnar?

[Maggot]

I can say that the Cyborg of obamacare and the healthcare system that is in place is turning int0 a nightmare. Everything I mean everything has to be done by the consumer. Everything is button pressing with nobody answering the phones. Birthdates are wrong and doctors are not accepting many things that are critical. My insurance is quasi obamacare and its all messed up. I had a hospital call me and say they were putting me in a credit collection agency. I have not even seen that bill, and I have a large file on insurance. The old insurance set up is being forced to combine or fail and I think that may have been the plan.
Once enough people are on it they (the ones that voted for it) will say that its to late to stop the thing. Its like a big snowball getting bigger and more confusing as it gains steam.
Very frustrating dealing with any of it.
Last year I did not have a single problem, once they tried to bill me for something that was covered but that was minor compared to the fiasco today.

But like Common core its just another thing that is smoke and mirrors with nothing working, like a gas engine trying to work on diesel. Just leave it up to the Government to screw things up then walk away.

[HairOfTheDog]

I was opposed to the Affordable Health Care Act, initially.

I definitely want all Americans to have access to affordable health care, no doubt. But, I don't like that it's mandatory for individuals to secure health care insurance lest be hit with a financial penalty.

The other part of the Act that I don't like is the additional cost to employers; for us small service employers, it's a big deal if our customer bases are on fixed incomes and the extra cost can't be at least partially passed on to our clients/customers via a price hike. Even with close to 50 employees, my business is a small one and the profit margin is low. I already had a similar requirement placed upon my business by the city of San Francisco years before it became a national requirement -- it means I'm hampered from growing my business past xx number of clients because the extra costs would erode the profit margin. With the implementation of the Obama-care Act, I imagine other businesses across the country are likely facing that same issue. And, so it is...

On the other hand, on a personal/individual level, I haven't had any change in my health care cost or quality or administrative efficiency since Obama-care went into effect, and I'm very pleased that millions more citizens now have health care coverage.

There are definitely pluses and minuses to it, for me.

[Blindgreed1]

I haven't come across anything indicating that the health care industry work force will be cut in half in the next 5 - 6 years while the number of health-insured Americans continues to grow.

If that's true, I agree that it's a problem -- it seems unreasonable for anyone to project that the level of efficiency would increase two-fold in that time frame. Curious -- do you have a source for that, Gunnar?

This has been going on for the PAST 5-6 years here in Az. Attending physicians here are being replaced by NP's. Instead of having 5 physicians on any given shift they are replacing the attendings with NP's and dropping down to the bare minimum of the State requirements. The quality of supplies has dropped drastically. Labs, x-ray, PT, everything is backed up constantly due to lower staffing levels. Add to that, we only have 1 trauma center now (in Tucson) between Mexico and Phoenix when we used to have three.

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh, sorry Gunnar. I misread your comment.

The demand for health care workers is expected to exceed the supply (moreso than now) by 2020, nationally. That probably would have been true with our without Obama-care, but it makes sense to me that the shortage will be greater under Obama-care, given a larger number of people will have access to health care services.

I don't really see the connection between what you've been experiencing for 5+ years and your projections for the effects of Obama-care down the line. Are you saying that your situation in Arizona has been directly due to the mere anticipation of Obama-care -- without other factors distinct to your area, company or industry sector?

[Blindgreed1]

Oh, sorry Gunnar. I misread your comment.

The demand for health care workers is expected to exceed the supply (moreso than now) by 2020, nationally. That probably would have been true with our without Obama-care, but it makes sense to me that the shortage will be greater under Obama-care, given a larger number of people will have access to health care services.

I don't really see the connection between what you've been experiencing for 5+ years and your projections for the effects of Obama-care down the line. Are you saying that your situation in Arizona has been directly due to the mere anticipation of Obama-care without factors distinct to your area, company or industry sector?

And by 2020, less people will want to work in the healthcare industry (myself included) for the reasons cited above. You're in the HC industry HoTD, you know how overworked hospital workers were 10 years ago. Now there's less of them and more work. Do the math. Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Much of the prep work was done in anticipation of it passing. Once it passed the pink slips started flying. Now, our one and only trauma center just merged with Banner Healthcare Systems which you will see more and more of across the nation moving forward. Think of it as Mom and Pop vs. Walmart.

[HairOfTheDog]

The math is remedial, but I don't think applying your specific situation to the health care industry overall, nationwide, is necessarily accurate.

I think there may well be more migration of health care workers between providers, but that won't result in a 50% decrease in health care workers to handle the extra workload -- rather a reallocation.

But, you might be right. We'll see.

[Donovan]

Yeah Arizona isn't really a good barometer for how the rest of the nation will work, their leadership are idiots that just defunded community colleges to zero dollars. Brilliant. Because who wants an educated populace anyway, they just get uppity.

Meanwhile, it is true that America is a capitalist country. But we are rapidly discovering, as bubble upon bubble bursts, that capitalism without restraint is psychopathy. It is the nature of the American entrepreneur to make profit. It is the nature of the corporation, be it big medicine or big insurance, to try and make ALL the fucking money. That's why they fought so hard through their bought-and-paid-for congressmen to stop the ACA, and when that failed got them to load it with riders and caveats and "but-also" addendum that it became an unwieldy mess. Now they will find other ways to make a profit.

[blueberryhill]

I haven't come across anything indicating that the health care industry work force will be cut in half in the next 5 - 6 years while the number of health-insured Americans continues to grow.

If that's true, I agree that it's a problem -- it seems unreasonable for anyone to project that the level of efficiency would increase two-fold in that time frame. Curious -- do you have a source for that, Gunnar?

This has been going on for the PAST 5-6 years here in Az. Attending physicians here are being replaced by NP's. Instead of having 5 physicians on any given shift they are replacing the attendings with NP's and dropping down to the bare minimum of the State requirements. The quality of supplies has dropped drastically. Labs, x-ray, PT, everything is backed up constantly due to lower staffing levels. Add to that, we only have 1 trauma center now (in Tucson) between Mexico and Phoenix when we used to have three.

I live here in Phoenix area in AZ, and I have no problem getting appointments with my Doctor. In fact, I spend most of my time in Doctor's offices (I see approx 5 specialists) and I have to have periodic blood tests and I get them in a timely manner. I was a bit surprised when I tried yesterday to make an appointment for blood work for two days from now and they had no openings until next week. Apparently this is due to all of the Winter visitors which is why I make an appointment. I see the Doctor in every case, rarely see just the NP. Of course this all could change under the leadership of the new Repubturd Governor.

[Blindgreed1]

I haven't come across anything indicating that the health care industry work force will be cut in half in the next 5 - 6 years while the number of health-insured Americans continues to grow.

If that's true, I agree that it's a problem -- it seems unreasonable for anyone to project that the level of efficiency would increase two-fold in that time frame. Curious -- do you have a source for that, Gunnar?

This has been going on for the PAST 5-6 years here in Az. Attending physicians here are being replaced by NP's. Instead of having 5 physicians on any given shift they are replacing the attendings with NP's and dropping down to the bare minimum of the State requirements. The quality of supplies has dropped drastically. Labs, x-ray, PT, everything is backed up constantly due to lower staffing levels. Add to that, we only have 1 trauma center now (in Tucson) between Mexico and Phoenix when we used to have three.

I live here in Phoenix area in AZ, and I have no problem getting appointments with my Doctor. In fact, I spend most of my time in Doctor's offices (I see approx 5 specialists) and I have to have periodic blood tests and I get them in a timely manner. I was a bit surprised when I tried yesterday to make an appointment for blood work for two days from now and they had no openings until next week. Apparently this is due to all of the Winter visitors which is why I make an appointment. I see the Doctor in every case, rarely see just the NP. Of course this all could change under the leadership of the new Repubturd Governor.

Your hospital is part of the Banner HC network i'm guessing. They were absorbed up in Phx about 3 years ago. It's true you can buy a Sony TV at Walmart, but is it the same quality Sony as you'd get at say a Best buy or a knock off Sony built in Korea? Down here we're still making the transition to the big box hospitals.

[Maggot]

You have a point if you buy a craftsman tool at home depot it is made to home depots standards. if you buy it at sears its built to different standards. Power tools at Home depot have generic plastic gears while the ones at sears have metal gears.

[Duchess]

Sears Craftsman tools have a lifetime guarantee.

[Blindgreed1]

Sears Craftsman tools have a lifetime guarantee.

Nope... I have a circular saw they refused to fix and the last cordless drill I bought there they refused to replace because by their standards 3 years was "the expected lifetime" of that model. It's a really cool sounding guarantee but it isn't worth shit.

[HairOfTheDog]

Craftsman brand tools sold at Sears are the same quality as Craftsman brand tools sold at Kmart, or Orchard, or Ace... Sears doesn't manufacture any tools and the manufacturers are determined by tool type (not by retailer); the Sears quality ranking is the same, regardless of manufacturer AFAIK.

I have a ton of Craftsman tools -- some that my dad gave to me and a great collection that I inherited when he died.

I think it's probably easier these days to have the unlimited lifetime warranty honored at Sears than another retailer though, since Sears owns the brand and advertised that warranty. Still, if a product is discontinued or a retail employee works a spiel around the warranty verbiage, it's frustrating trying to get a replacement or fix.

In terms of applying a tools analogy to healthcare under the Affordable Health Care Act, I can see where merging and consolidating of providers might result in a more cost-effective model for the administrators with a (real or perceived) drop in quality as compared to smaller, more personalized providers.

[Blindgreed1]

Craftsman brand tools sold at Sears are the same quality as Craftsman brand tools sold at Kmart, or Orchard, or Ace... Sears doesn't manufacture any tools and the manufacturers are determined by tool type (not by retailer);the Sears quality ranking is the same, regardless of manufacturer AFAIK.

I have a ton of Craftsman tools -- some that my dad gave to me and a great collection that I inherited when he died.

I think it's probably easier these days to have the unlimited lifetime warranty honored at Sears than another retailer though, since Sears owns the brand and advertised that warranty. Still, if a product is discontinued or a retail employee works a spiel around the warranty verbiage, it's frustrating trying to get a replacement or fix.

In terms of applying the tools analogy to healthcare under the Affordable Health Care Act, I can see where merging and consolidating of providers might result in a more cost-effective model for the administrators with a (real or perceived) drop in quality as compared to smaller, more personalized providers.

That's what i'm smokin baby.

[Maggot]

A 6^th grade question from the test;

The sixth-grade test has consistently come under fire, especially during Day 3 when an article entitled, “Nimbus Clouds: Mysterious, Ephemeral, and Now Indoors” from the Smithsonian Magazine appeared on one version of the test.

Here is a passage from the article:


As a result, the location of the cloud is an important aspect, as it is the setting for his creation and part of the artwork. In his favorite piece, Nimbus D’Aspremont, the architecture of the D’Aspremont-Lynden Castle in Rekem, Belgium, plays a significant role in the feel of the picture. “The contrast between the original castle and its former use as a military hospital and mental institution is still visible,” he writes. “You could say the spaces function as a plinth for the work.”


a teachers response;

The genius at Pearson who put that article on the sixth-grade test should take his nimbi and his plinth and go contemplate his belly button in whatever corner of that Belgian castle he chooses. The members of the State Education Department who approved the article’s inclusion should go with him.