dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

think that kinda be established... Next

tschmath Loc: Los Angeles

Your ignorance is truly astounding. If the city is taking those two days as holidays, then they have to extend the school year by 2 days. Each state has a set number of days that they must be in school, and any holidays must be offset by extending the school year. You keep proving what a total jerk you are when you spout off about crap you know nothing about.

soba1 Loc: Somewhere In So Ca

Easter and Christmas both have roots in pagan holidays.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

they covered over these two
Christmas Come to Be Celebrated on December 25 Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness

"Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos."

All about the Christmas Tree: Pagan origins,
Christian adaptation, & secular status

http://www.religioustolerance.org/xmas_tree.htm

soba1 Loc: Somewhere In So Ca

:thumbup:

mwalsh Loc: Houston

Didn't the shepherds bring a cut tree w/ lights to the manger?

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

180 days. Most of us have to work an entire year. Screw you and your arrogance and insults. Most public, union, employees are are democrats and live very well off the public taxpayer tit!

skylane5sp Loc: Puyallup, WA

You completely miss the point as usual. They are not Christmas or Easter anymore. They have removed any religious reference from all government.

So why in hell do we have to observe "Muslim Holy Days"? Sounds like a clear violation of the non-existent "separation of church and state" that was touted by liberals to remove Christian "holy days" from gov't.

Again, PC hypocritical pandering.

Penny MG Loc: Fresno, Texas

Absolutely, without a shadow of doubt correct! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Kanonmeister Loc: Los Angeles

"Most public, union, employees are democrats"

Define "most." Leaving out independents, its 32% vs. 28%.

But the breakdown is actually: 32% democrats; 37% independents; 28% republicans.[also, if one may assume, a similar breakdown representing the taxpayer "tit" in the general population of voters??? Dunno. Independents may not vote. Look for data]

Leaving aside the question of whether ANYONE today would want to identify with the current policies of the Republican Party, read the Gallop poll conducted in 2010:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/146786/democrats-lead-ranks-union-state-workers.aspx

These data are based on 177,775 interviews with employed Americans conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking in 2010. Government employment and union status are based on workers' self-reports.

Among all U.S. adults interviewed, 32% are Democrats, 37% independents, and 28% Republicans.

Among other key findings:
The gap in Democratic party identification between union and nonunion work environments is largest among private-sector workers and federal government workers, with an 11.8-percentage-point and a 10.2-point gap, respectively.
Nonunionized state government workers show a smaller gap than the one found among unionized state workers, but still demonstrate a nearly 10-point Democrat (39.2%) to Republican (29.5%) gap.
Among private-sector workers who are unionized, Democrats outnumber Republicans by a substantial 42% to 24% margin.
Federal and local government workers who are unionized are also more likely to be Democrats than Republicans, albeit with a smaller partisan gap than among state and private-sector workers. Nonunion federal and local government workers are roughly even in terms of Democratic and Republican identification.
Nonunion private-sector workers are about evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.
The political profile of every major category of union workers is more strongly Democratic than that of the public at large -- with between 40% and 46% identifying as Democrats -- and somewhat less Republican and independent. Nevertheless, a significant minority -- ranging from 24% to 27% of unionized workers, depending on area of employment -- identify as Republicans.
Some of these political distinctions may be caused by underlying demographic patterns that characterize union jobs versus nonunion jobs. With that in mind, Gallup controlled for all relevant demographics and found a muted, but similar pattern.
Implications
Unions have been in the news in recent months as Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin made state employee unions the major target of his efforts to cut costs and reduce his state's budget. Walker and Republican legislators in Wisconsin engaged in a protracted battle with the unions and Democratic legislators over these efforts, effectively underscoring the highly partisan nature of union politics in today's environment. Unions have become one of the largest financial supporters of Democratic candidates for office, and the confrontation with Gov. Walker was likely amplified still further because of the probable political orientation of unionized state workers in Wisconsin.
The current data show that rank-and-file union members tend to follow these same partisan patterns across both government and private industry employment sectors. Even when demographic characteristics of union and nonunion members are controlled for, those who are union members skew at least slightly more Democratic in their political orientation than those who are not union members.

Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of the Gallup Daily tracking survey with 177,775 national working adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Jan. 2-Dec. 29, 2010. Of these, 144,682 respondents work inside of a nongovernment setting, and 133,317 of these are not in unions, while 11,365 are. For results based on the total sample of national working adults in a nongovernment setting, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±0.3 percentage point for those not in a union and ±0.9 percentage point for those who are.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

It sounds like you are very bitter over the career path you have chosen. Did someone force you into this career path?

tschmath Loc: Los Angeles

You are certainly a bitter, angry man who knows nothing and spews a lot of hate.

Let's be real. According to payscale.com, the average middle school teacher in this country makes $42,800. Not poverty level, but "living well off the public tit?" I hardly think so. Teachers are actually the best bargain you can get for your buck. Let's look at it together, shall we?

I have 4 years of college and a fifth year of post grad work for my credential. So here's what I propose. Pay me just $3 an hour to teach your kid. For 6 hours a day, that's $18. For the 38 days I have your child, that's $118,000 a year. And that's less than we pay babysitters these days. Keep in mind this doesn't count the hours a day I work for free at home grading papers, making parent phone calls and planning lessons.

Change the $3 an hour to the federal minimum wage of $7.25, and my salary jumps to $297,6540. Now try to find another profession that pays people with 5 years of college the minimum wage.

And instead you're paying me an average salary of $42,800. And from that deduct the hundreds or thousands of dollars I spend on supplies for my classroom.

I hate to be rude, but why don't you and everyone else who bashes teachers just step inside a classroom for a week. You'll go screaming from the room before it's over. You asshats have no idea what we deal with, but are very quick to condemn us. I know you never will, so please go f*&k yourself.

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

From what I have seen on here you arn't worth $3.00 an hour. Find another job and quit bitching. I work on straight commission and pay ALL my own expenses. I am on a business trip right now that will cost me out of pocket about $400.00!
Go f___yourself in the ass!

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

YA wanna whine go join the Army! Those people have a legitimate bitch, especially with the boss they have.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

You made the decision to be self employed. Now live with it and quit hating on everybody else. Manufacturers reps I have known had a relatively easy schedule and made a damn good living. Are you sure you're any good at it?