Anna P

This has never worked before. You can't shut down parts of the government that quickly, and you would put many of the 4 million federal employees out of work, plus the 8 million or so that are indirectly tied to those 4 million. AND what would you cut?

And yes, I meant both. True conservatives are not generally as right wing as many of the Tea Party candidates.

12 million people living here illegally, 8 million Muslims, everyone on welfare and anyone they suspect of being communist? Isn't that rather a large group? Any ideas?

Since "Joe" blocks anyone who doesn't agree with him, I will counter his question. The Congress passes laws that grant amnesty or whatever to illegals living in this country, not the President. How could all these people have flunked civics?

So now the Republicans are saying that anything they disagree with is a Trojan Horse leading to something dire (comment by Orrin Hatch, whom I respect a lot). So how does any change get done? End-of-Life counseling leads to "death panels" (which anyone who knows what EOL counseling is thinks is pretty pathetic), a coop will lead to government takeover, etc. So what's the answer?

"Joe" and a few other incarnations is very annoying in that as soon as you disagree with him he blocks you. Does this annoy anyone else? In two years I've blocked maybe two people--isn't this the whole idea of a discussion?

Guess I just want people to agree with me :) Fire away.

This is an interview with a panel from elite schools. This might help you as you prepare your essays and application packages.

What part of the admissions process is most misunderstood?

Jeff Brenzel of Yale University: It is not well understood that we are not aiming to pick out the best candidate in a particular school or from a particular area, as measured by some predetermined criteria. Rather, we are trying to assemble the most varied and most interesting class we can from an extremely diverse group of close to 25,000 outstanding applicants. We do not aim to compare a student primarily with other students from his or her school; we look instead for students who will bring something of particular value to the entering class.

Second, few people seem to grasp the weight given to various aspects of the application, though this can vary considerably by institution. For us at Yale, for instance, standardized test scores generally do little to differentiate applicants, because virtually all our applicants score very well. Most important to us are the transcript and the school and teacher recommendations, which students can do little to influence once it comes time for an application. We also look closely to see where and how a student has developed talents or engaged the school or community outside the classroom. Essays and interviews round out an application, and we look here mostly to see whether they convey information that enlarges or enhances, while remaining consistent with what we hear from counselors and teachers.

Bruce Poch of Pomona College: Most of it!

As I read admissions-related Web sites and blogs, I am often struck by the mistaken and sometimes troublesome counsel about what matters. Sometimes that advice comes from counselors, sometimes from parents of other students and sometimes from peers rather than from the individual college. Some of that bad counsel relates to questions about what to report or what to conceal.

Grades and scores, the core if not sole basis of decisions at some institutions, may be a much smaller part of an ultimate decision for students applying to a very highly selective institution where most applicants clearly enough “can do the work.” Why students chose a particular course of study may matter a great deal to an admissions officer. How they approach a classroom or learning environment may mean more than just the letter grade received in a class.

Students should objectively look at what they have submitted and ask themselves if questions remain unanswered for a reader of that application. Do the essays reflect ideas and personality or just present a report of involvement? Does it sound like the student wrote the essay? Was a change of schools midyear explained or left to the wild imagination of an admissions officer who may read an unanswered question as a signal of danger? Why was a particular extracurricular activity the most important involvement?

Bruce Walker of the University of Texas at Austin: The most misunderstood part of the proces is that colleges have different missions and goals when selecting a class, and that an acceptance or denial will likely be for different reasons across multiple colleges.

Steven Syverson of Lawrence University: We all have our own institutionally idiosyncratic ways of making admission decisions. But the common perception tends to be that all colleges are difficult to get into. The reality is that nearly 90 percent of America’s four-year colleges admit more than half their applicants, and with the exception of students who apply only to hyper-selective institutions, most applicants are admitted to one or more of their top choices.

Another misconception is that colleges admit students from the top down, academically, and stop when they have filled their class. The academically outstanding applicants will likely be offered admission, but a substantial portion of the class will be filled with students who are academically qualified, but also have some other characteristic that is attractive to the college (e.g., athletic or musical talent, a parent who attended the college, or a personal or cultural background that is unusual at the college).

And, when a student is denied admission to a college, there is often the presumption that they were not qualified. At highly selective colleges, the reality is that many (perhaps most?) of the denied applicants meet the academic standards for admission, but were not offered admission simply because there was not sufficient capacity to accommodate all academically qualified candidates.

Given that colleges need to admit a certain balance of athletes, legacies, artists, musicians and development-office selections, is it reasonable for people to expect the process to be fair?

Mr. Syverson of Lawrence: This really depends upon what is defined as fair. Colleges don’t admit all their students just based upon their academic prowess. Each college strives to enroll

The person blocked me, so I thought I'd ask from my perspective! If Obama was doing all these strange things that people attribute to him, he'd not have time to prepare for the Presidency!

What are you thoughts?

A press release from our Director of the Department of Health in Hawaii (and we have a Republican Governor). Can we ALL give it up now?

For Immediate Release: October 31, 2008 08-93

STATEMENT BY DR. CHIYOME FUKINO

“There have been numerous requests for Sen. Barack Hussein Obama’s official birth certificate. State law (Hawai‘i Revised Statutes §338-18) prohibits the release of a certified birth certificate to persons who do not have a tangible interest in the vital record.

“Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.

“No state official, including Governor Linda Lingle, has ever instructed that this vital record be handled in a manner different from any other vital record in the possession of the State of Hawai‘i.”

There was a small middle class before unions began, and middle class is now throughout the country. For instance, in Las Vegas, it was basically a poor area until service unions started to represent the casino workers--the economy boomed as a result, and people can actually make living wages working in casinos.

Do the UAW members make too much money? Probably, most of them do. The non-union GM retirees have already lost their health insurance coverage (meaning they now must pay for Medicare and meds). The union members should get equal treatment, but the union is stalling. If GM goes bankrupt, ALL the contracts are up for negotiation.

GM and Ford (and Chrysler possibly) need to completely overhaul ltheir industry. It's not just those three employers, but tens of thousands of suppliers thorughout the country, plus all the jobs that depend on the auto industry (including overseas) that are at stake.

Do you realize that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT will assume all the health coverage for retirees (Plan D), plus possibly the pensions if they are broken? THAT will be a catastrophe! This has been coming for 20 years, and now it's arrived.

Did you know that people have been calling the Vital Statistics branch at our State Department of Health in Hawaii ALL DAY EVERY DAY trying to get a copy of Obama's certificate? Someone has also been calling the Branch Manager in the middle of the night.

This ridiculous nonsense needs to stop. The DOH Director has viewed the document, verified that it is accurate, and thinks the whole thing is stupid (she is Republican, BTW). The Hawaii Supreme Court has thrown out the ridiculous suit filed by a mentally ill lawyer (and others). Please drop this ridiculous issue--it is a non-issue and it's OVER.

BTW, Obama lived in Hawaii for a total of 14 years. He is an AMERICAN. Are you people the same ones who ask how much to mail to Hawaii or if you need a passport to visit because you don't know that Hawaii became a state in 1959?

It's the most polled (last poll yesterday), has the most respondents (2825), and shows a slight uptick for Obama gained by getting more undecided votes rather than taking any from McCain.

Obama 52%, McCain 41%, Other/Undecided 7%, Margin of Error 2%

www.nytimes.com/politics

The map is very interesting.

I'm guessing at least four and up to 12. We won't know who the winner is for weeks, I'm guessing. Already Colorado and Florida voters are being taken off rolls by Republican politicians and election leaders.

Here's a tidbit from a local outlet. Kind of interesting.

WOOD-TV

updated 12:30 a.m. HT, Sat., Oct. 4, 2008

DALLAS (AP) -- Sarah Palin questioned Republican presidential candidate John McCain's decision to abandon efforts to win Michigan, a campaign move she only learned about Friday morning when she read it in the newspapers.

In an interview with Fox News Channel Friday, the Alaska governor said she was disappointed that the McCain campaign decided to stop competing in Michigan. In an indication that the vice presidential candidate had not been part of the decision, she said she had "read that this morning and I fired off a quick e-mail" questioning the move.

"Todd and I, we'd be happy to get to Michigan and walk through those plants of the car manufacturers," Palin said, referring to her husband. "We'd be so happy to get to speak to the people in Michigan who are hurting because the economy is hurting."

Some of you are coyly talking about downsizing your life due to high taxes if Obama is elected. Who ELSE is supposed to pay for the $3 trillion bill for Iraq--your great-grandchildren? Under McCain, you may have to be paying for invading Iran as well. Will you send yourself, YOUR children, YOUR grandchildren to another useless war? I don't think congress will fall for the lies the next time.

I think there will be problems all over the country--there are many new election voting systems, and all the other problems including yes, Acorn registrations. What are your thoughts on problems (on BOTH sides, remember) for at LEAST a week and maybe up to a month?

I have several bets going (well, nickel bets, that's all I bet) that the KKK membership will go through the roof if Obama is elected. I say for 50% membership, the level is 8 on a scale of 1-10. What do you think?

I would hope that we have gotten beyond this as a country, but I fear not. This is bringing the issue out in the open, though. That's good at least.

McCain campaign volunteer Ashley Todd has admitted to fabricating the story about being mugged and disfigured but hasn't explained why she did it.

FROM A PITTSBURGH NEWSPAPER JUST NOW

Does anyone know what this "person" is saying?

"From: Eazy E

Subject: hey

Message: hahah...well once again I have an arguer who neglects to answer the question just rants on a miscue of grammar or wording on my part...anyways 18% increase of votes from Bush in Virginia you really think there will be an 18% margin of error. seems like you are the one that needs to get your facts straight considering the margin of error is usually not larger than 5 percent. hahaha schooled granny. lol even my strong supporting democratic college professor agreed with me that votes like voting for colored democrats more than regular democrats."

Colored? Does anyone still use that term?

Here is the New York Times polling data, you can see different polls and their results over time.

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/whos-a...