OT: The pay ...

[Swingman]

... of ALL congressman and school superintendents in the country should be suspended until EVERY school bus is equipped with seat belts.

[Scott Cox]

OR......

The pay of ALL congressman and school superintendents in the country should be DIVERTED to equipping every school bus with seat belts.

Better use of our funds.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Why? Seatbelts on school busses are questionable. They can even cause damage if not use properly or if buckles fly around. The seats of the busses are designed for better impact control that the typical automobile. The seat backs have crush zones for the kids in the seat behind it, mounting brackets have to pass certain testing etc.

[DS]

I think trimming that sentence makes it a bit more appealing.

[Leon]

If the child is seat belted into his seat he or she is less likely to be jumping and running around on the bus. I see this every day during my 2 mile walk around 2 schools You have to be seated, for the seat back crush zone to be effective. ;~)

[Leon]

And the bus will not operate until the seat belt is latched with a child in the seat.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Then you will need belts with locks. If the kids need discipline, hardware on a seat is not going to cure it.

[Highland Pairos]

And in the event of an accident that requires rapid evacuation (i.e. fire) do you think that it is realistic for a driver to run around and unbelt 60 kids? I generally agree that restraint is good. However in the unique conditions of a schoolbus, I think that this is not a clear cut issue, that is not a matter of simple cost cutting.

SteveP.

[Swingman]

You're right, it's a matter of every school bus in the country having to be replaced with a redesigned vehicle built around the same principles of restraint in other modes of transportation ... a downright "inconvenience" that _responsible_ leaders would not shrug off with statistics twisted to suit the status quo and bleating sheep.

Sorry, Dude, I simply don't buy the horseshit rationale and statistical lies expressed by the powers-that-be on this issue.

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander ... it is adamantly argued that restraint in accidents saves lives in every other mode of motorized transportation, to the point of _law_. Only deluded fools would make a legal exception for school busses, which daily carry the future (as bleak as it might be due to the very same reluctance and lack of leadership) of this country

The argument/theory of "compartmentalization" works fine when a bus is upright, but goes right out the window otherwise ... along with the kid. We saw that with ample clarity yesterday: "Statistically", four more of our children would be alive this morning had there been some form of sensible restraint designed, by law, into that Minnesota school bus ... something other than the cop-out "compartmentalization" method of non-restraint.

Besides, where would you rather spend taxpayer's money - on inflated salaries of politicians and educrats who must drive, seatbelted, to work each school day; or perhaps on the various boondoogles of politicians and corporate interest's that drain money from the taxpayer with no benefit whatsoever; or on safe transportation for your children, where they must wear a seat belt in any other conveyance on the way to school, except the school bus?

Oh yeah, while we're on the subject of taxpayer money actually being spent on the public good ... where the hell is the vision this country's leadership once exhibited in developing an interstate highway system? If Al Gore really wants to take the "initiative" with regard to the Internet ... it's time we built a "broadband internet highway", as ubiquitous and as available to _every_ citizen, as the interstate highway system.

Unfortunately, as with the lack of restraint designed into school busses, we no longer have the vision, honesty, foresight or fortitude to tackle these types of issues ... and we will simply bleat about it on the way to our children's slaughter.

Remember, it's your children who will suffer, on all counts ..

[mac davis]

Make the lil' suckers walk to school, uphill both ways, in the snow, like we did..... they might lose a few pounds and get in shape.. ;-]

Then, cut the above mentioned pay in half and use the proceeds to pay good teachers a decent salary.. YMWV

mac

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[mac davis]

That should be enough funding to buy 'em all Hummers with air bags..

mac

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[Leon]

LOL..... which reminds me..... Several years ago during the Brown administration there was a big push to add a rail system to Houston Metro. IIRC most opposed it but it was built and clouds of suspicion were every where. Accidents with automobiles averaged more than 1 per week for the first 18 months. It was comical aside from the "fact"? that it was "always" the motorists fault for the accident. I have always told my son that if you are in an auto accident it may not be your fault. a second accident, certainly partially your fault at the very least. The rail trains are at the very least half to blame for the 75 accidents that they were involved in the first several months.

A N Y W A Y,,,,, one of the news agencys did a study on the cost of the rail system. It was determined that it would have been less expensive to have purchased a Ferrari for "every" rider of the rail system.

[Tom Bunetta]

Their pay should cease upon retiring from office, and while in office should be made a part of the Social Security system. And as long as I have the soap box, why should they make so MUCH more than the people fixing the toilets, entering the data at his bank or fixing his car? (Aren't the "perks" they get enough?) Oh yeah, and count how many real work days they actually have IN A YEAR! What happened to "for the love of country"? Don't you dare call me a dreamer...(even if it is true). Tom

[Tanus]

Realistically, how many school buses catch fire? I'm not sure that belts on a bus are a perfect idea either, but the argument of fire vs. belts has never convinced me.

[Swingman]

Put those same "60 kids" on an airplane to Disney Land and see how long it takes to buckle them in.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Paying the good teacher a decent salary is easy. Just get rid of the bad teachers and take that savings and divvy it up amongst the good ones.

[George]

HUH? The union thugs will be on your doorstep tomorrow.

Sheesh! Next thing you'll tell us that you determine a good teacher by the qualitty of the "product," not the length of service.

[Fly-by-Night CC]

BZZZZT! Logic 101 - grade F. Once you fire a teacher, I suppose you believe the students in that classroom disappear? You'd need to hire a replacement or else add to the load of the remaining grade level teachers.

Besides, how do _you_ identify a "bad" teacher?

[Charlie Self]

The problem there is what to do to fill the 60-65% of the teaching positions you've just vacated.

[mac davis]

Doesn't work that way in my experience... the good teachers starve to death until deciding to go to the "dark side" and become administrators, where the money is..

mac

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