Do the folks in the Seattle school district responsible for closing schools due to snow actually live in Seattle, because down in my SE Seattle neighborhood we’ve seen barely a flake, and the roads are clear and dry. Same holds true for a friend in the Mt. Baker neighborhood, who left an angry rant on my voicemail this morning: no snow, clear roads, and clamoring kids without childcare arrangements.
The kid in me still reflexively cheers at the mere prospect of a snow day, but the adult in me understands what an incredible burden it is on single- and two-working-parent families… the vast majority of households with school age children here in the 21st Century. By closing the schools out of fear it might, just might snow a little later today, the Seattle, Mercer Island, Bellevue and other school districts have not only disrupted our children’s education, they’ve created an unnecessary hassle for thousands of parents, in some cases costing them a day’s wages, or even their job.
It’s pretty damn ridiculous.
The weather’s not going to get any better between now and the end of the week, so if this is all it takes to twitch their itchy school closure finger, they might as well just cancel Thursday and Friday now, and let us all start the Winter break a few days early. At least that way we could plan ahead.
We had 6″ of snow and it was 20 below….but they still had school.
Goldy, the answer to WHY Seattle closed all the schools is simple….
You are determined to raise another generation of PUSSIES and WIMPS!…just like your generation.
God help us.
But wait, if they have more than 1 snow day, they make it up at the end of the year calling the make-up day a few hours of jerking off.
Pussies.
Out here in Kirkland it feels warm and the snow is melting; the roads are clear with only minor spots of ice. Considering that this is a half-day of school I’m absolutely puzzled, but my daughter is most certainly delighted. This let’s-play-it-safe reaction to close schools has a 70% chance of biting school officials in the butt.
Well they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. This is just one of those situations where the potential exists for the school district to be crucified no matter which call they make.
Snow IS predicted and if it were to snow and school had to be closed early, well, that’s an even bigger headache for single or 2 working parent households (speaking from personal experience). You know that if that were to happen, (different) people would be writing, “Snow was predicted, but they held school anyway! WTF!”
Snowflake 2008!
Better fill up on groceries, batteries, firewood, and fuel for the car, then go to ground…..
I swear, this region goes completely bats**t whenever a snowflake falls. I particularly liked the shots on the news this AM of a sand truck sitting on a dry, clear road, waiting for a snowflake to fall, and the news anchors going on and on and on about snow in Seattle that hadn’t fallen….
I agree completely….WTF batman!
You’ve touched on a valid point, Goldy! When you get right down to it, school is incarceration.
Stupid No-Snow Day.
I completely agree with #4 and yet also with #3.
I blame the lawyers.
The radio announcement I heard didn’t even mention snow when broadcasting the schools that are closed. They said it was because the projected temperature was too cold. The high today is 35!
Schools are closed in Gig Harbor (Peninsula School District), they mentioned, cold weather bad roads in outlying areas and snow coming.
Around here there’s steep hills, windy roads and almost no snow removal equipment so it’s probably a good call.
Perhaps we ought to let Governor Gregoire and her incompetent, criminal DSHS gang handle our kids during snow days…..NOT!!!
DSHS settles case of boy’s death; lawyer asks how state lost track
Robley Carr Jr., according to his lawyer, was a victim of the state Department of Social and Health Services’ (DSHS) mistakes. He was a victim not once, but twice. In 2003, state and federal authorities paid $5 million to settle claims that Robley and three siblings were horribly abused in foster care. Now, the state has agreed to pay an additional $320,000 to settle a claim that it failed to protect Robley even after that. He died at age 15.
By Maureen O’Hagan
Seattle Times staff reporter
[TEXT OF ARTICLE REMOVED. NEXT TIME, BLOCKQUOTE AND LINK, RATHER THAN PASTING IN COPYRIGHTED TEXT. –GOLDY]
The buck stops AGAIN with Governor Gregoire.
She has this child’s blood on her hands.
Newcomers and the media go bat-shit, natives not so much.
It’s cheaper and easier to keep kids home a few days a year than to buy the sanders, plows Etc (and have them sitting collecting rust 99% of the time)that we’d need to keep the roads safe enough for buses.*
You’d have to pay out scads of overtime for road crews and cops and extra cash for the extra heat to keep the building warm enough for the kiddies as well.
I thought we were trying to save some cash?
*Only speaking for the Gig Harbor area.
we have gotten at least 4 to 5 inches since last night on whidbey island, and its still snowing.
Convergence zone up here makes it localised unpredictable weather, but were used to either missing it or getting hammered.It’s interesting and we are used to it.
no one is on hiway 20.
Big, fat, snowflakes just started flying in Gig Harbor.
Time to go play!
“abandoned by the state”
I wonder how many children would be abandoned by the state in Cynical’s alternate Christo-Fascist universe? Would Cynical and his Church have saved the kid? Where were they when this kid and other kids died? They were in wing-nut church whining about their precious tax dollars going to pay for any state social service whatsofuckingever.
It’s like 37 degrees here in Bellevue. If it ever starts snowing, it might not stick so well. I hate to see what happens to the next couple of days of school if it really does snow.
@13 Same at Hood Canal. Perhaps Goldy wasn’t around these parts when we had the big snowstorm and kids couldn’t get home from school and some were even abandoned. A far louder cry went out then than now. I can see officials who recall that day erring on the side of caution.
Yep,
whats worse, kids stuck at home or at school?
#9 & #14.
On the surface, that story sounds awful. That poor kid.
However, I don’t hear Mr Cynical and the rest of the limited government crowd coming up with better solutions. We all know DHSH sucks, so what’s the better alternative? Do you conservatives just want to sit back and criticize the Governor and Democrats, or do you have solutions that you are willing to support.
It takes a 40+ hour class to be a foster parent. Would you implement LESS regulations? Would you pay foster families more? Would you hire MORE DSHS workers?
How would you conseravatives change DSHS and keep it as effective?
What year was it that happened? I do recall about 1992 or so when the weather forecast completely missed the boat on a big blizzard. That day I boarded the ferry to Bremerton and there were a few flakes starting to come down. When I got off an hour later there was a foot of snow.
@18 I was a ward of the state back in the 1960’s after my Mom died when I was in sixth grade. I can only say that I believe that the situation has gotten both better and worse. Many social services lessons have been learned over the years, however, the burden is now huge, the cracks in the system many. The stories of those who slip through can be very tragic. That said, there are organizations out there that really know how to help kids in need. I give what I can to the organization that long ago saved me from a fate worse than death, the Friends of Youth. They are truly worthy of any donation one might consider giving this holiday season.
Steve@14, Sorry bub, that’s speculation. And we know what you speculate will never happen in FUWA. Therefore all we have left are the facts Cynical provided.
Butt, if you took notice of your Seattle surroundings during this cold snap, churches all over are opening their doors to take people in from the street. Now that’s something Steve wouldn’t even contribute to. We all know libtards are stingy to their fellow man. Study after study has proved it.
Hence you lose.
I hear you’ve started writing a second tome called “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Abusing Young Goats”. You may be able to sell it here to your leftist pinhead friends if you advertize.
@19: It was Dec. 1990, also the year of our last prolonged freeze. I had just moved here from the east coast and was running a national publishing company. We were trying to get a weekly periodical mailed, and there was 6-7 inches of unforecasted snow. (Not a foot in an hour; an inch an hour is heavy snowfall. A foot in an hour is physically impossible.) I had no problem getting around in it, because I stuck to flat or gently sloped streets; a lot of drivers, including articulated buses, didn’t have even that much common sense. And I vividly remember trying to explain to an incredulous manager back east that we couldn’t get our periodical out because the entire postal service, including the central post office’s bulk mail unit, had shut down. (“Neither rain, nor sn–oh, never mind.”)
Here’s a hint for the clueless: plenty of other areas with hills also get snow. They generally don’t use it as an excuse for complete civic paralysis.
“Snowflake 2008!” LMAO!
@21: Puddy: Citation, please? I’ve raised money for nonprofits for a living for most of the past 20 years, long predating my accidental fall into journalism. As a percentage of income people of moderate means are generally much more generous than the wealthy – despite a tax structure that encourages the wealthy to donate to 501(c)3’s (i.e., tax-exempt nonprofits). Don’t know how that stacks up with conservative vs. liberal, but I suspect it undermines your claim unless you’re going by total dollars given rather than percentage of income given. In the former case, I’d wonder also whether you’re talking about a lot of people giving some, or a handful of really generous people masking the vast majority who give little or nothing. I suspect the latter.
You’re right about churches, though. Whether liberal or conservative, they give far more to their communities than most non-religious people realize.
I see that Puddy concludes that, since I don’t attend a whacked-out extremist Reconstructionist church that wants to replace the constitution with Biblical law, that I’m no church-going, charity contributing Christian in his eyes. Of course, he accuses me of speculation.
What’s up with you and these goatsex books? I have to say, Pudz, that ever since November 4th you’ve been acting, well, kind of weird. Was it all just too much for you, everything you ever believed in turning to shit like it did?
Geov, hold on…
Geov,
In a study done 25 monts ago Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, published “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism.
His findings:
Although liberal families’ incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227).
– Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood.
– Residents of the states that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George Bush.
– Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average.
– In the 10 reddest states, in which Bush got more than 60 percent majorities, the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states, which gave Bush less than 40 percent, donated just 1.9 percent.
– People who reject the idea that “government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality” give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.
Geov, I ran across this for your incoming VP Joe Biden. Puddy ran across this from CNN too.
It’s so sad you’ll laugh.
Maybe Biden probably meant to give more, but he just, uh, oh, um, ah, forgot. He’s a very busy man, you understand. Mr MBNA and all that.
Geov, you can do a poll here. Ask your Donkey friends how much they give to charity in 2007.
Then just ask Cynical and me.
@22
I makes sense for areas that get a lot of snow to have the infrastructure to deal with that snow. Because we have a few days of snow a year it would be expensive over capacity for us to do the same. Plus, local culture tends to see snow and say “Yay, snow day” and just hangout with the kids for the day. The world wont come to an end if we all relax and take an unscheduled break from our normal activities.
You may have noticed that we’re a bit more laid back out here than on the east coast.
I wouldn’t click on any links Pudz posts. He tends to link to a site run by a perv who flew to the Dominican Republica with a jar of Viagra so he could have sex with child prostitutes.
Geov,
My third oldest nephew was a marine. He is amazed that the libtard MSM lack of coverage of the Marines Toys for Tots Drive.
Michael:
Yep that was yelling loser boy’s old name.
Geov,
Harvey Mansfield, professor of government at Harvard University and 2004 recipient of the National Humanities Medal, does not know Arthur C Brooks of Syracuse University, but has read the book.
“His main finding is quite startling, that the people who talk the most about caring actually fork over the least“.
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
@28 You two lie your asses off about everything under the sun. Why should anybody believe that you’d do anything but lie about your contibutions to charity? Besides, you two probably only give to America-hating, wing-nut extremist churches and organizations anyway.
goldie – how many of the ‘why’d they close school today’ crowd would be
the FIRST in line to sue,
the FIRST in line to call for investigatinos,
the FIRST in line to call for special commissions,
the FIRST in line to call for expensive studies from uber educated uber clueless consultants,
IF some school bus went a little sideways and some kid got a bloody nose? OR, more likely, some parent got freaked out that their little bubble-wrap bundle of joy might actually get hurt once in a while?
30%? 60%? 90%?
rmm.
Brooks? He of the American Enterprise Institute? Sure, Pudz, whatever.
From the deafening silence and change of subject, the conservatives would rather complain about DSHS rather than offer improvements that would show their priorities and biases.
Or maybe they lack any concept of anything better.
Maybe it’s unless it’s part of their church, they got nothing for the kids
#35. All it takes is 1. So .0001%
Geov, for the last presidential election
Barack Obama – AGI (adjusted Gross Income) = $4,139,965.
Donations to Charity = $240,370
Percentage of AGI to charity = 5.8% Senators get paid well I see.
Joe Biden – AGI = $319,853
Donations to Charity = $995
Percentage of AGI to charity = .3% (yes that’s right POINT 3 percent. Ain’t that sweet?
John McCain – AGI = $386,527
Donations to Charity = $105,467
Percentage of AGI to charity = 27.3%
Sarah Palin – AGI = $166,080
Donations to Charity = $3325
Percentage of AGI to charity = 2.0%
Yeah Steve the exact same one who did his study 25 months ago was just recently selected…
They recognize great talent.
Geov, Harpers Mag reported McCain contributed around $950,000 to the John and Cindy McCain Foundation between 2001 and 2006.
Geov, You have to remember this one
ABC’s “20/20” went to Sioux Falls, S.D., and San Francisco. We asked the Salvation Army to set up buckets at their busiest locations in both cities. Which bucket would get more money?
And what happened in our little test? Well, even though people in Sioux Falls make, on average, half as much money as people in San Francisco, and even though the San Francisco location was much busier — three times as many people were within reach of the bucket — by the end of the second day, the Sioux Falls bucket held twice as much money.
42 – Leave it to Stupes to quote that right wing propagandist Stossel.
http://www.fair.org/activism/s.....ering.html
39 – Hilarious! McSame can afford to donate almost all of his salary to charity given that his wife can afford to put 300K worth of clothes on her back for one night.
http://www.vanityfair.com/onli.....utfit.html
It must be rough to be able to brush aside your salary like it’s nothing and not even know how many homes you have access to.
Puddy @ 39: Accepting your figures for the sake of discussion, a couple of notes:
(1) Comparing McCain’s income against his charitable contributions isn’t very informative. As everyone knows, he has a very wealthy wife who’s resources support their lifestyle. McCain could afford to give away his entire salary and not have it impact his lifestyle one iota. And McCain and his wife could easily decide between themselves which of them would record which charitable donations.
As for Palin, I’m rather surprised that given the evangelical nature of her church, that her charitable donations don’t come much closer to the Biblical “Tithe” of 10%.
Getting back to the subject of school closures:
I’m not going to blame the local school districts for closing schools today. As of 11:00 p.m. weather reports last night, the best prediction I could get for my area (Everett) was “snow showers beginning some time after midnight, with the most likelihood of snow at mid-morning (10:00 a.m.), with accumlations of “trace” to 8 inches”. What kind of planning can you do with a forecast like that?
So I set my alarm for 4:00 a.m., got up and saw light snow falling, so I went on into work in Bellevue. By the time I left Everett at 4:30 a.m. there was about an inch of new snow on the ground, but by Lynnwood there was nothing. I just called home (1:30 p.m.) and was told that there wasn’t much new snow since I left this morning, but the TV stations were warning of impending disaster at any moment.
But school districts have a bigger problem than I do. The only thing worse than cancelling school and there NOT being any snow, is to have to send the kids home early when snow actually begins to fall. Then you have the prospect of tens of thousands of children on buses sliding on slick roads, with parents stuck at work or on the freeways trying to get home and nobody at home to open up the doors and let the kids in. What happens to children who walk home from the bus stop to find an unexpectedly locked home with no parent? Or what about those who don’t take the bus, and wait at school for hours while the parents try to fight through snow traffic to get there to pick them up?
rhp6033: Dig down and you’ll see he gives `25% of his salary. They file separately rhp6033. Remember your good friend byebyegoober. He kept screaming for the Cindy to post her tax returns. Don’t you pay attention rhp6033?
@40 “They recognize great talent.”
Talent? I’m sure the AEI recognizes something, alright.
yelling loser boy it was ABC 20-20 moron.
Your head is so far up your ASS you use your navel as you eye.
Puddy @ 46%. I think you know that McCain filing a seperate tax return doesn’t affect my comments. One of the major reasons people file seperate returns is so they can shuffle income and charitable contributions and other deductions for maximum benefit, either for tax or political purposes.
Surely you aren’t saying that McCain pays for half of the living expenses in all of the homes owned by him and Cindy McCain, are you?
In short, virtually ALL of McCain’s income is “disposable” income. He really doesn’t need it.
I gave more to charity than Sarah Palin. And a higher percentage of my income as well! I’m sure Puddy thinks I’m a better person than Palin. In 2001 I gave a higher percentage of my income to charity than McCain even though I don’t have a wife worth 100 million or more. I’m sure Puddy would agree that I’m a much more charitable man than John McCain.
48 – Stupes lives up to his name again. From the piece he links to:
We. We. We. Who does “we” include? The author of that right wing bullshit, of course – Stossel – a discredited right wing propagandist.
I know your reading comprehension sucks Stupes (like that old loser MWS), but this is ridiculous.
Loser.
I think this tidbit from the P-I is spot on when it comes to snow in Seattle:
yelling loser boy, can’t accept truths about libtards. Apparently ABC 20-20 stands behind the report.
You lose again moron.
@53 Yeah, like you can handle the truth, Pudz.
http://www.republicanoffenders.com/Pedophiles.html
Can’t deal with it, can you?
Steve @ 50: Come to think of it I also gave more than Palin, even on a lower income. My charitable giving for the past year was about 15% of my GROSS income.
Sorry, Puddy, but I’m an Evangelical Christian Democrat who works hard for a living, has my own business on the side, and gives to charity. My very existence is contrary to most of your preconcieved notions about Democrats and liberals.
Just for the record, I don’t give a flying fuck how much anyone gives to charity.
@56 I don’t care either. I’m sure rhp doesn’t care. But it’s really important to Pudz for some reason. Maybe because he believes his own bullshit – that we here at HA don’t give to charity whereas he and his ilk do. Delusional, like everything else Pudz spews here.
Stupes is just doing his holier than thou act.
He did a really disgusting number when he went down to New Orleans to help out with Katrina reconstruction. Very noble of him.
and yet.. and yet…
In the midst of all that desperate need he somehow found the time to show people down there HA.org and do his hate-on routine.
What a miserable SOB!
Stupes @ 48
it was ABC 20-20
With John Stossel reporting his right wing bullshit as I stated in 43.
You lose again Stupes.
LMAO!! Here’s another good analysis of Stupes’ favorite ABC right wing bullshit artist Stossel:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1134
Wow with the way Stupes argues, Stossel must be his role model:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2894
Arthur C. Brooks is also a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (yeah, those folks). No suprise he wrote a tome called “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism”.
From Wiki –
AEI has emerged as one of the leading architects of the second Bush administration’s public policy. More than twenty AEI alumni and current visiting scholars and fellows have served either in a Bush administration policy post or on one of the government’s many panels and commissions. Former United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is a visiting scholar, and Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is a senior fellow.
From AEI –
The AEI’s mission is “to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism — limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate.”
Puddy–
We gave over $25,000 this year…and hundreds of hours of volunteer time.
Christ, I gave more than you too – and donated more time. What a selfish little loser you are.
steve–
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire!
You wanted to measure a person by the amount he or she donates to charity and you came up short. Loser. Shut up and live with it.
Steve–
So amuse us with your lies about donating wads of cash by making up the charities you donate time and money too?
Political contributions don’t count moron.
I’m talking about $$ to less fortunate folks and time helping them get on track.
Sure thing, troll. When you post your trade confirmations. Speaking of which, one of my Biotech positions I’ve been accumulating popped 110% today. Geez, it must suck to be you, huh?
Funny. Cynical accuses someone else of lying.