HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: curt@ekhadafi.austin.ibm.com (Curt Finch 903 2F021 curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com 512-838-2806)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: N.C. COUNTIES CHANGE GRADING, CLASSROOMS
Date: 6 Oct 92 21:17:31 GMT
Distribution: tx
Organization: IBM AWD, Austin


                   =====  A LOCAL LOOK  =====

*4   EDUCATION REFORM:  N.C. COUNTIES CHANGE GRADING, CLASSROOMS
     Six counties in N.C. have instituted reforms that will alter
school design in nine school districts (Simmons, RALEIGH NEWS &
OBSERVER).  Merit promotions, ability clustering and defined
objectives are all part of a new, $3M program that school
officials hope will set the standard in education for the next
decade.  "We saw it as a chance to establish some fundamental
change," said Thomas Houlihan, Johnston County school supt.
     Schools participating in the program will attempt to promote
students on the basis of subject knowledge, not classroom time.
Students will be administered tests to see if they have mastered
the subjects -- if they pass, they move on to other subjects.
Increased emphasis will be placed on experimentation rather than
standardized lessons.  School officials also are encouraged to
devise a short list of goals and inform the parents of them.
     Officials say that the reforms are goal-, rather than
method-oriented.  "All that matters is whether a student is
learning. How you get there is secondary," said Betty Wallace,
Vance County school superintendent (10/4).


-- 
--
curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt L. Finch) | AIX NFS/NIS Field Quality 
My views are unrelated to those of IBM     |        Austin, TX
 -If you vote against Bush, be fair and throw out Congressional incumbents too-
Newsgroups: tx.politics
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Worker Productivity
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Distribution: usa,tx
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 14:08:48 GMT

In <21710@rpp386.lonestar.org> jfh@rpp386.lonestar.org (John F. Haugh II) writes:

>No, John is not self-employed.  But if the statistic for American
>workers includes unpaid family workers, then so too should the
>statistics for the other countries.

I suspect that that's not a generally available statistic.  I also
suspect that given tax rules and such, we do a lot more of that than a
lot of countries do.

>Look, if America is in a ditch, I'd like to know.  But the fact is
>that we have lower unemployment than most of the countries in Europe,
>and that IS counting all the unemployed (about 10.5% right now,
>source: Sindlinger weekly survey).  We are still the number 1
>exporter, we export more to Japan than Japan exports to us, per
>capita, and so on.  Do we have problems?  Yes.

>However, if you are going to use skewed numbers, I'm going to
>complain.

Speaking of 'skewed numbers', let us not forget that nearly half of
the countries in Europe are newly liberated from behind the Iron
Curtain.  Is it any surprise that with the demise of State-owned
industries a lot of people go unemployed?  And of course, Europe is in
the midst of a financial crisis right now, too.

Yeah, nothing like those 'unskewed numbers', John.

-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
Newsgroups: tx.politics
From: johniac@johniac.austin.ibm.com (John Iacoletti)
Subject: Re: gun(s) for carry in a car
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 19:51:15 GMT
Distribution: tx
Reply-To: johniac@austin.ibm.com (John Iacoletti)
Organization: IBM Advanced Workstations and Systems, Austin, TX

In article <BvsCoC.CCw@rice.edu>, kossack@owlnet.rice.edu (Jordan Marc Kossack) writes:
|> 	Look, I'm not saying it is right, and you have my sympathy if  
|>    you're hassled because you fit some police profile, but that's the 
|>    way it works.  You're more likely to be stopped/hassled/searched if 
|>    you look "suspicious" to an individual officer.

That's not the way it SHOULD work.  "Probable cause" doesn't mean that
some "pig" doesn't like the way you dress, or the color of your skin. 

-- 
John Iacoletti       IBM AWS Austin       Internet: johniac@austin.ibm.com
        My opinions do not reflect the views of the IBM Corporation
                "Fight the real enemy" -- Sinead O'Connor
From: curt@ekhadafi.austin.ibm.com (Curt Finch 903 2F021 curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com 512-838-2806)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: Re: How about reaction to Perot's first TV show?
Date: 9 Oct 92 18:57:02 GMT
Distribution: tx
Organization: IBM AWD, Austin

wrr3118@tamsun.tamu.edu (Rick Russell) writes:
>Well, I watched H. Ross on his first 'paid' TV show last night, and I
>personally was impressed. I don't really know if I intend to vote for

me 2

> - Informative. Rather than drench us with sound-bite statistics,

agreed

> - Not self-serving. Perot didn't push his candidacy; he didn't claim

agreed

>and he didn't attack anyone. The various graphs he used were, in
>themselves, a criticism of the Reagan/Bush years, but facts are facts.

But also of Congress and everyone in it.

I think the guy is a real patriot.  He's showing the people what they
need to see.  I just hope it sinks in.

Those graphs won't look any better four years from now if Clinton
increases spending by 200,000,000,000 dollars like he says he will.

-- 
--
curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt L. Finch) | AIX NFS/NIS Field Quality 
My views are unrelated to those of IBM     |        Austin, TX
 -If you vote against Bush, be fair and throw out Congressional incumbents too-
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: Re: Bush Vetoes Stupid Education Reform Bill
From: judy@technology.com (Judy McMillin)
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 16:25:46 GMT
Distribution: tx
Organization: Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas

In article <1992Oct13.195545.15593@tamsun.tamu.edu> wrr3118@tamsun.tamu.edu (Rick Russell) writes:
>
>In article <1992Oct09.152047.25890@watson.ibm.com> johniac@austin.ibm.com (John Iacoletti) writes:
>

>>This makes me wonder how fair it is to those parents of children who
>>are in private schools who still have to pay education tax.
>>Or to those who have no children.
>
>Good question. I suppose the simple answer is that public schools
>would no longer be public schools if only their users paid for them.
>Then they'd be publically-funded private schools, in a sense. It seems
>to me like childless property owners should get a break though.
>
>-- 
>#      Rick Russell | TAMU Meteorology | wrr3118@tamsun.tamu.edu       # 

		#1) Who paid for the education of "those parents
		    of children who are in private schools ....
		    and those who have no children?"  Probably,
		    the "public" did.

		#2) One more time, public education is NOT a 
		    handout -- it's an investment in the future
		    labor force.

		You may argue how effective public school is, but
		it's too expensive to not spread the cost out to
		society at large, like a standing army is, or a
		freeway is.

	PS:  Parents always have had choice in schools; one of the major
	     criteria in house hunting is the school district.  

	     Or, parents can become active in their local school district
  	     or PTA, or whatever they have these days.
From: exuptr@exu.ericsson.se (Patrick Taylor)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: Re: Teacher Pay Redux
Date: 14 Oct 92 21:22:26 GMT
Distribution: tx
Organization: Ericsson Network Systems, Inc.
X-Disclaimer: This article was posted by a user at Ericsson.
              The opinions expressed are strictly those of the
              user and not necessarily those of Ericsson.

In article <1992Oct11.183636.16838@montagar.com> davidc@montagar.com (David L. Cathey) writes:
>From: davidc@montagar.com (David L. Cathey)
>Subject: Re: Teacher Pay Redux
>Date: 11 Oct 92 18:36:36 GMT

>In article <21703@rpp386.lonestar.org>, jfh@rpp386.lonestar.org (John F. Haugh II) writes:
>> This is from the Libertarian Party News, a newspaper from the Libertarian
>> Party.
>> 
>> Writing about the continuing growth in public payrolls -
>> 
>>       Volume 7, no. 10, pg. 11
>> 
>>                           ... Admittedly, public wages are
>>        inflated by the high number of professionals like teachers.
>>        Yet public school teachers' average wages and benefits
>                                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>        have hit $34.45 an hour, ...
>                         ^^^^^^^ 
>> 
>> Ho-hum-de-dum.  Adjusted for a full 52-week work year, that means the
>> total compensation for teachers is $71,656 ...

>        Whoa, let's take a reality check!  Creative math, John!  That assumes
>they work 2080 hours/year (40 hours per week for all 52 weeks of the year). 

Uh, 'scuze me, I think he said "adjusted for q full 52-week work-year"...

Which leads to the next question:  are teachers paid for summer-school time?
Of course, they can take another summer job, also.  Which means they
are probably making more than you figure, although it doesn't all come from
their primary work...

>... $33,585 as actual wages on average.

>        This also does not take into consideration hours off for holidays,
>leave/sick time, etc in my calculation of average wage, but is probably
>included in the hourly rate of teachers (Since it appearently is to make it
>as high of a figure as possible).  So hours worked, therefor wages, are
>probably a little less.  Heck, the extra two weeks of Christmas vacation are
>worth $3,971 in compensation.

Which, of course, they still receive.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "This must be Thursday.  I never could get the hang of Thursdays"
                                                       - Douglas Adams
  - Patrick Taylor                                       (Arthur Dent)
    Ericsson Network Systems
    exuptr@exu.ericsson.se                       "Don't let the .se fool you"
    or exuptr@ZGNews.Lonestar.Org, exu.exuptr@memo.ericsson.se
Newsgroups: tx.politics
From: wrr3118@tamsun.tamu.edu (Rick Russell)
Subject: How about reaction to Perot's first TV show?
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station
Distribution: tx
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 23:32:14 GMT

Well, I watched H. Ross on his first 'paid' TV show last night, and I
personally was impressed. I don't really know if I intend to vote for
Ross, but I think Perot did a good job with his TV presentation. In
particular, I found the following plusses:

 - Informative. Rather than drench us with sound-bite statistics,
Perot had clear, informative graphs and charts demonstrating various
economic and social trends of the Reagan-Bush years.

 - Not self-serving. Perot didn't push his candidacy; he didn't claim
that a vote for him was the only 'right' vote, as GB and BC would have
us believe about their own candidacies. Granted, this was the first of
several broadcasts, and I expect subsequent broadcasts might be more
promotional in nature.

 - No personal attacks. Perot did not criticize George Bush directly,
and he didn't attack anyone. The various graphs he used were, in
themselves, a criticism of the Reagan/Bush years, but facts are facts.

 - Presentation. Perot stuck to his strength: business communication.
Anyone who's given or attended a business presentation or seminar
could understand Perot's method of presentation. No flashy video, no
computer video graphics, no double exposures of Perot's face and a
purple mountain's majesty.

Minuses included:

 - Graphs, while informative, were quite open to interpretation. It's
hard to tell whether Perot is giving us the full story, although I'm
convinced of the veracity of his facts. The question is, what is he
not telling us?

 - Perot avoided a lot of issues, and as usual, he had no statements
of policy. Hopefully this criticism will evaporate in the face of
subsequent presentations.


So, what did everyone else think?

-- 
#      Rick Russell | TAMU Meteorology | wrr3118@tamsun.tamu.edu       # 
#     "I want to Krazy Glue my head to the bottom of a BIIIG           #
#      steel girder!" - Weird Al Yankovic                              #
Newsgroups: tx.politics,alt.politics.clinton
From: jfh@rpp386.lonestar.org (John F. Haugh II)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: Re: Quality of Public Education.
Date: 9 Oct 92 12:43:50 GMT
Reply-To: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F. Haugh II)
Distribution: tx
Organization: River Parishes Programming, Austin, Republic of Texas

In article <1992Oct8.164405.7871@sun44.synercom.hounix.org> mattair@sun44.synercom.hounix.org (Charles Mattair) writes:
>I'm not sure what your ex-wife taught but I'm damned sure not going to let
>my ex or current wife read this (they both teach high school math).  They
>would probably come find you and make you wish they hadn't.

My ex-wife teaches two completely unrelated subjects at the 11th and 12th
grade level.  Last time I checked, she had 5 periods worth of students in
a large High School.

>The mid term grade slips are now at the middle of each marking period (six
>weeks to us dinosaurs) and if you've got 150 students, they take considerably
>longer than 1/2 hour.  Hell, you can't even average that many grades in 1/2
>hour and you'd better average them.  You send an undeserved progress slip home
>or fail to send a deserved one; the parent squawks and you can find yourself
>in very deep weeds.

My ex-wife, having graduated from an excellent college (hey, I even went
there ;-), learned how to identify students who don't need grade slips
by quickly mentally averaging the grades in her head.

A teacher had better have a pretty good idea from day to day what the status
of their students is.  If a teacher can't figure out in a rather short
period of time whether a student is passing or failing, they just simply
have no business teaching school.

>Unless you get the same classes each year, you have to prepare handouts,
>worksheets and so forth.  In as much as the school changed two of my wife's
>three courses, she regularly spends 20 hours a week just on this.

My wife just got them from the big file cabinet with handouts that other
teachers used the year before.  Rather simple concept.
-- 
John F. Haugh II           [  TSAKC  ]       UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
Ma Bell: (512) 251-2151    [ DoF #17 ]            Domain: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org
Newsgroups: tx.politics,alt.politics.clinton
From: kossack@owlnet.rice.edu (Jordan Marc Kossack)
Subject: Re: If you dump Bush, dump Congress too, (at least.)
Followup-To: alt.politics.clinton,alt.fan.dan-quayle
Organization: Draft Dodgers for Clinton and Quayle 
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 02:15:40 GMT

In article <4877@tivoli.UUCP> steveb@tivoli.UUCP (Steve Benz) writes:
- But I don't see much point in `Throwing the bums out' if you're just
- going to elect some joker from the other party -- since the only effective
- difference between the two is the suits they wear & the particular brand
- of idiocy they're supposedly espousing.

	Right On!  Fight the Power!  

        The preceding political announcement has been paid 
           for by DRAFT DODGERS FOR CLINTON AND QUAYLE.  

-- 
 Jordan M Kossack  |  "From each according to his naivete, 
  kossack@qvi.com  |   to each according to his greed"  
  +1 713 240 2073  |                         -- Jeff Orrok   
  
Newsgroups: tx.politics
From: johniac@johniac.austin.ibm.com (John Iacoletti)
Subject: Re: Football Failures at Bowie Force end of Season
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 92 19:28:53 GMT
Distribution: tx
Reply-To: johniac@austin.ibm.com (John Iacoletti)
Organization: IBM Advanced Workstations and Systems, Austin, TX

In article <1992Oct14.135714.16950@mksol.dseg.ti.com>, mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
|> I was honestly stunned when they put 'no pass, no play' in effect down
|> here in Texas.  Not because I thought it was particularly
|> controversial, but because I couldn't believe that the schools weren't
|> being run that way all along.  People have since told me that a lot of
|> other states allow athletics, etc., no matter what a students academic
|> standing.  Incredible!  When did all this change?

I don't think it's all that incredible.  Think of football or whatever
as just another class.  You wouldn't prevent a student from taking a
math class if he was failing social studies would you?  The
assumption behind no pass--no play seems to be that if you don't allow
them to do extra-curricular activites, then they will spend that extra
time studying.  Not only is this not at all intuitive, you could
easily make the argument that the sports may be the only thing keeping
some of the kids in school at all.

-- 
John Iacoletti       IBM AWS Austin       Internet: johniac@austin.ibm.com
        My opinions do not reflect the views of the IBM Corporation
"When you're following an angel, does it mean you have to throw your body off a 
 building?" -- TMBG
Xref: sparky tx.politics:6054 alt.politics.bush:9176 alt.politics.clinton:10454
From: exuptr@exu.ericsson.se (Patrick Taylor)
Newsgroups: tx.politics,alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.clinton
Subject: Re: it's time for a clean sweep
Date: 14 Oct 92 21:25:35 GMT
Organization: Ericsson Network Systems, Inc.
X-Disclaimer: This article was posted by a user at Ericsson.
              The opinions expressed are strictly those of the
              user and not necessarily those of Ericsson.

In article <4707@d75.UUCP> curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt Finch/131072) writes:

>The Federal Government is gridlocked and "We the People," want to take
>it out on George Bush.

>These sentiments are understandable.  But if you're honest you have to
>agree that Congress is at least *part*, if not most, of the problem.

>And since they're part of the problem, then shouldn't dumping them be
>part of the solution also?

>Be fair this November.  If you're voting for Mr. Clinton, vote against
>Congressional incumbents too, regardless of their party.

I honestly don't think this is going to be a problem.  Anyone out there for
leaving the Congress as-is?

>Send a message.  The closer an incumbent comes to losing, the more he
>is likely to wake up.

Here's a nasty thought: Perot gets elected and promptly dies, leaving the 
Admiral in charge ;-)
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "This must be Thursday.  I never could get the hang of Thursdays"
                                                       - Douglas Adams
  - Patrick Taylor                                       (Arthur Dent)
    Ericsson Network Systems
    exuptr@exu.ericsson.se                       "Don't let the .se fool you"
    or exuptr@ZGNews.Lonestar.Org, exu.exuptr@memo.ericsson.se
From: gak@n5abi.hou.tx.us (Gene A. Kennedy)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: Re: John & Fred
Date: Fri, 09 Oct 92 19:00:55 CDT
Organization: Ham Radio Operator, Houston Tex.

mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:

> In <21685@rpp386.lonestar.org> jfh@rpp386.lonestar.org (John F. Haugh II) wri
> 
> >Fred will treat you like dirt no matter how nicely you treat him.  If
> >you treat me well (and you personally do, for the most part) I will
> >be as nice as can be to you.  I gave Fred plenty of opportunities to
> >reform, but he's refused.  Now he's off beating on Iacoletti now
> >that I've stopped responding to his postings as much as I once did.
> 
> Yes, this 'nice treatment' of yours is undoubtedly why your response
> was "fuck you" upon my congratulating you on your upcoming child.
> Sure, John.  *I* believe this.
> 
  Thank you both for demonstrating exactly the point I wanted to 
make. The "style" I was refering to is attacking the person rather 
than the content of what they say. To me at least, your 
discussions would be far more interesting if the personal attacks 
were left out of it. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
          Gene Kennedy - Ham Radio Operator, N5ABI - 
                      gak@n5abi.hou.tx.us
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
        Exculpatory, a nifty little word that meant confuse
           the hell out of the jurors. -- Stephen Coonts
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ps690162@kiwi.imgen.bcm.tmc.edu (Prem Subramanian)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: Re: Libertarian Party Houston contact?
Date: 15 Oct 1992 17:31:23 GMT
Organization: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tx
Distribution: tx
NNTP-Posting-Host: kiwi.imgen.bcm.tmc.edu

In article <1992Oct14.230612.5221@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:

>>How come they're not in the debates?
>
>>Surely they have more to say than Dan-O and Al-Baby?
>
>Real good question.  I've asked several people that, but no one seems
>to be able to come up with a way to qualify Perot and not qualify
>Marrou unless they use the polls, and that seems a ludicrous way to do
>it.  If they're on the ballot in all 50 states, they ought to be in
>the debates.
>
>[I've heard that they're thinking about not inviting Perot to the
>remainder of the Presidential debates, but I don't know if that was a
>real rumour or just someone's wishful thinking.]

You hit the nail on the head. According to a _New York TImes_ article that
ran soon after Perot resumed his "unofficial" candidacy, the Bipartisan
Commission on Debates is required to consider those candidates that are
both on the ballot in all 50 states and have a "reasonable" level of
popular support. The usual and accepted method of determining this support
is the public opinion poll.

Ludicrous it is indeed.


>"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
> in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.


Prem S. Subramanian
ps690162@mbcr.bcm.tmc.edu
	Vote Libertarian in '92!
From: thc@hitex.austin.tx.us (Texas Hemp Campaign)
Subject: TX Hemp Tour
Summary: Texas Hemp Tour dates and locations
Organization: Delta-9
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 19:10:43 GMT


	Texas NORML/Texas Hemp Campaign

  Texas has the opportunity to once again become a leader
in the areas of agriculture, energy, and industry.  There are
over 30,000 known uses for the hemp plant, cannabis sativa,
which has been used by civilization for over 12,000 years. 
As a raw material, Hemp would support numerous new and existing 
industries including: 
Agriculture	- revitalize the whole farm economy without pesticides
Energy		- biomass is a re-newable & ecological energy source.
Fiber		- durable cloth, cordage, fine linen
Food		- high vegetable protein human/livestock food.
Medical		- non-toxic glaucoma/AIDS(symptom) treatment.
Paper		- outyields trees 3:1, per acre, per year(source: USDA).
Textiles	- cellulose(over 25,000 uses), oils, plastics

  Come find out more at the Texas Hemp Tour!  We invite you to
be skeptical, check our references, ask the tough questions.
History and science support our claims.  Cannabis Action Network will 
also be there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
	Texas Hemp Tour Dates
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date	Time 	City		Location
----	----	----		--------
10/14	15:00	San Antonio	Breckenridge Park
10/15	12:00	Austin		UT Campus, West Mall, 14:00 @ Planet K. South
10/17	12:00	Dallas		Dune Buggy HQ, Lamar & Cockrell, SE Dallas
10/19	12:00	Houston		1304 W. Alabama
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
	Texas NORML/Texas Hemp Campaign	
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Austin		PO BOX 13549, Austin, TX 78711 512/441/4099 512/837/4674