Matt Damon (woof) Tells Off Some Wacky Reporter

[Lostlover]

This, right here is the result of the right wing having the working class fighting against one another. They coddled Wall Street while blaming unions for the downfall of America. Matt Damon tells this reporter to shove her "MBA mentality" where the sun doesn't shine.

And few seem to have picked up on this manufactured intra-class warfare.

The irony is that the "brains" of the right wing nonsense pretty much consists of dropouts. I guess they were too smart for school. *cough* Beck *cough* Hannity *cough* Limbaugh *cough* Karl Rove *cough* Governor Jan "High School Diploma" Brewer *cough* cough*

Note: There's a nice video in the link. Damon should have knocked out the reporter and cameraman.

 

[Críostóir]

While I certainly love Matt Damon and agree with what he says in the clip, I don't actually see the connection between it and the rest of what you say here. Could you unpack it some? I'm reasonably sure reason.tv is a "Libertarian" (i.e. right-wing) organization, but otherwise...

 

[Lostlover]

^^^ Many of the people advocating for the end of unions are a) dropouts from school (they never really valued school to begin with) and b) are wealthy. They ignore and distract from Wall Street's excesses and greed with fake controversies with little meaning to the average American, like the faux Acorn story.

Poor and middle income people are doing the dirty work for these people.

 

[JayHawk]

Maybe your a shitty cameraman ...I dunno...

Hearing Matt Damon and his method of rebuking stupidity makes me miss new england so fuckin bad....

I get told I am too brash often around here and in the job... in NE I get someone who wants to argue with just as much passion...

Miss it.

MD is correct.

Speaking of education they have a program that is being promoted on the radio around here for K12 online calssroom. Essentially tuition free high school that is catered to your kid. Considering the massive movement in Collegiate education opportunities online is teaching effective learning skills via an online venue a good thing?

I would think it would make the student a natural online learner. It would also drive innovation in that methodology?

What say you all?

Sorry LL but I tried to take a topic out of the huge subject in your OP...

 

[chance1]

Matt is a good actor generally - i find his political "commentary" less than

I guess he believes that teachers are all wonderful - his mom is/was one- teachers should not be held to standards and they are all by default dedicated and underpaid too

Much like a guar contract can demotivate a ballplayer tenure can demotivate a teacher - human nature not an anti teacher thing

I like Matt on 30 rock and particularly in the Bourne movies good will hunting too

I appreciate that he has an opinion but i find him pompous unappealing and Ed Schultz-like in his approach

 

[laikaNYC]

Why don't Matt Damon and his uber liberal allies put their money where their mouth is and champion legislation that would allow the rich the opportunity to voluntarily pay HIGHER taxes.

On Massachusetts tax forms, there is a box to check if you want to pay the optional higher tax rate of 5.85% The standard tax rate is 5.3%

Of the 3,240,000 returns filed in 2005, only 1,162 opted for the higher rate causing less than $200,000 in extra taxes to be collected. Data for 2006 shows that of the 1,540,000 tax returns filed, only 424 people opted for the higher rate. The average income of these people is $20,000.

http://dailybabenews.com/article.php?article_id=6842&type=read

They talk the talk, but don't walk the walk.

 

[andysayshi]

http://dailybabenews.com/article.php?article_id=6842&type=read

You get all the best news from Daily Babe News. Those babes are Bare and Balanced!!!!

 

[kallipolis]

Matt is a good actor generally - i find his political "commentary" less than

I guess he believes that teachers are all wonderful - his mom is/was one- teachers should not be held to standards and they are all by default dedicated and underpaid too

Much like a guar contract can demotivate a ballplayer tenure can demotivate a teacher - human nature not an anti teacher thing

I like Matt on 30 rock and particularly in the Bourne movies good will hunting too

I appreciate that he has an opinion but i find him pompous unappealing and Ed Schultz-like in his approach

On the contrary I believe that Matt Damon's response to the journalist's provocation was both appropriate, and educational if only to remind the journalist that school teachers are a highly undervalued asset.

Often we fail to appreciate all that is right with our system of education, in our hurry to discover that which fails to measure up to our expectations.

Journalists are wont to overlook the shortcomings of their own profession.
Especially those journalists working within the Rupert Murdoch empire.

 

[Sausy]

Matt is a good actor generally - i find his political "commentary" less than

I guess he believes that teachers are all wonderful - his mom is/was one- teachers should not be held to standards and they are all by default dedicated and underpaid too

Much like a guar contract can demotivate a ballplayer tenure can demotivate a teacher - human nature not an anti teacher thing

I like Matt on 30 rock and particularly in the Bourne movies good will hunting too

I appreciate that he has an opinion but i find him pompous unappealing and Ed Schultz-like in his approach

Mom happens to be a very lefty college professor,he had opportunuties to go to specialized schools the average student stuck in an area of underperforming schools do not.My sister teaches,and is a good one dedicated to her students,who has gonre above and beyond to get her students materials that the administration all to often fails to get.Parents who don't get on their kids to learn,make it very difficult for teachers to maximize student performance...if it doesn't start in the home,the teacher must perform miracles and for so many schools,the results just aren't there.

That said,tenure shouldn't be for life....periodic reviews,maybe after every five years.Unions have often been corrupted by lack of accountability....teachers are no different.They shouldn't be stigmatized but rotten school systems HAVE to be reformed.No easy answers but Matt can send his kids anywhere and someone who really wants to help their children learn have limited options...a good heart with good intentions(which I believe Matt has)isn't enough when clouded by ideological fervor left or right.

 

[rareboy]

Why don't Matt Damon and his uber liberal allies put their money where their mouth is and champion legislation that would allow the rich the opportunity to voluntarily pay HIGHER taxes.

On Massachusetts tax forms, there is a box to check if you want to pay the optional higher tax rate of 5.85% The standard tax rate is 5.3%

Of the 3,240,000 returns filed in 2005, only 1,162 opted for the higher rate causing less than $200,000 in extra taxes to be collected. Data for 2006 shows that of the 1,540,000 tax returns filed, only 424 people opted for the higher rate. The average income of these people is $20,000.

http://dailybabenews.com/article.php?article_id=6842&type=read

They talk the talk, but don't walk the walk.

Wow.

Nothing like up to date news reports to cite, eh Laika? I guess we should just be glad that there's a citation at all, shouldn't we? And from such a gold standard newssource with stories like:

Dancing on Ice babe Laura Hamilton: I'd die if my boobs fell out on TV

http://dailybabenews.com/article.ph...oobs_fell_out_on_TV&article_id=9392&type=read

So data that is BR, that is before the BushCo. 2008 recession, for one state, somehow is meaningful in some way to the thread topic?

Or is this just the typical 'gee, I don't have anything of value to add, so I'll put a turd on the track and see if it will derail the train'.


And btw isn't there a problem with the drop from 3.24 million returns to 1.54 million returns in one year?

I have to assume that the scribblers at the Babe are so busy staring at tits that they don't bother to check their math or question their data.

BTW the concept of voluntary taxation isn't taxation, it is gifting. And it is usually done by people who cheated on a prior year's tax return.

 

[Seasoned]

Ah, the 10% theory. Ten percent of JUBBERS have it wrong. You know who you are.

 

[kallipolis]

Ah, the 10% theory. Ten percent of JUBBERS have it wrong. You know who you are.

It could be argued that the proverbial ten percent do not know who they are, when believing that they know it all.

 

[laikaNYC]

You get all the best news from Daily Babe News. Those babes are Bare and Balanced!!!!

The original article was from the Boston Herald. Care to give your opinion on the actual topic?

Here's another link from the liberal Seattle Post Intelligence.

When Massachusetts cut its top tax rate to 5.3 percent in 2001, it let guilty liberals pay the old 5.85 percent rate. According to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, as of June 15, only 930 taxpayers chose to do so on their 2004 returns, generating an extra $246,505. In 2002, 2,215 taxpayers paid the higher rate, yielding $341,829. Among 3.2 million returns filed in 2003, only 1,488 (or 0.046 percent) paid the voluntary higher rate, adding $209,216 to state coffers.

http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/Just-the-tax-for-bleeding-heart-liberals-1176169.php

 

[JayHawk]

We need a flat tax rate. Across the board fair. Since the terrorist party and republicans cant call it a tax hike they are wrapping it up as a tax overhaul.

So champion of low taxes watch for that at a congress near you.

We MUST PAY OUR BILLS.... BUSH FUCKED US IN THE ASS on our very sketchy budget. Republicans forced us to keep those shitty tax rates for two more years...

jst curious Laika do you have any idea what increasing spending but removing tax deposits does to the bottom line? Since this is a school thread did you all get to addition and subtraction in your subpar union run shitty school?

Seriously I know talking points are fun and it is great to be solely dedicated to one idea but can you not see that spending us into a hole along with the huge stimulus spending to save us all under Bush and then Obama is why we are here?

Time to pay the bills.

All of that said I like the idea of K12. as mentioned in my previous post. The student learns at home where they can be encouraged by the parent and the parent can stay involved.

 

[Críostóir]

We need a flat tax rate. Across the board fair. Since the terrorist party and republicans cant call it a tax hike they are wrapping it up as a tax overhaul.

The highlighted phrase is redundant. Write more carefully.

 

[Tengilethos]

This is really enlightening:

It destroys the argument I have seen here often:"Taxes only go up and never go down again." The opposite is closer to the truth (though not entirely accurate). And before you ask, YES state and municipal taxes are part of that. There are several countries in the OECD that are as federal as the US and have a division in federal, states and municipal taxes as well.

Raising taxes is unavoidable, and they probably need to rise for most people in the US, not only the rich. Closing loopholes in the tax code will likely be only a neccesary first step.

Edit: Oh and for the record, taxes as % of GDP tend to go up automatically when GDP/head rises, if you have progressive taxation.

 

[rareboy]

The original article was from the Boston Herald. Care to give your opinion on the actual topic?

Here's another link from the liberal Seattle Post Intelligence.



http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/Just-the-tax-for-bleeding-heart-liberals-1176169.php

Wow.

Data that is not only irrelevant to the topic, but is only a decade old.

But.

Good.

For.

You.

For going all the way back to a secondary source.

 

[Lostlover]

Mom happens to be a very lefty college professor,he had opportunuties to go to specialized schools the average student stuck in an area of underperforming schools do not.My sister teaches,and is a good one dedicated to her students,who has gonre above and beyond to get her students materials that the administration all to often fails to get.Parents who don't get on their kids to learn,make it very difficult for teachers to maximize student performance...if it doesn't start in the home,the teacher must perform miracles and for so many schools,the results just aren't there.

That said,tenure shouldn't be for life....periodic reviews,maybe after every five years.Unions have often been corrupted by lack of accountability....teachers are no different.They shouldn't be stigmatized but rotten school systems HAVE to be reformed.No easy answers but Matt can send his kids anywhere and someone who really wants to help their children learn have limited options...a good heart with good intentions(which I believe Matt has)isn't enough when clouded by ideological fervor left or right.

What he said. ^^^

Every person that works is scrutinized at one point or another. Unions have offered some bad teachers immunity from criticism and higher expectations.

Despite this, this fanned and manufactured controversy is nothing but the work of the right wing. I'd love for Matt Damon to have asked that lousy reporter what she thinks of Wall Street's conduct in the last 10 years and why she isn't addressing this instead of focusing on teachers?

 

[chrisrobin]

That "reporter" knows less than Matt Damon has forgotten. I suspect that 10% of Mozart's music was garbage. I'm glad he stood his ground. What an idiotic question he was asked!

I find it interesting that Matt Damon has been working since 1988 (Mystic Pizza). He says something that some neocon airhead disagrees with and suddenly becomes the Great Satan. Pure and utter nonsense!

Reporter?

 

[JayHawk]

The highlighted phrase is redundant. Write more carefully.

LOL... I was just taking a swipe at the petty behavior of our politicians. One of my favorite pastimes.

Another poster actually gave me a questioning comment because he was under the impression that I was referring to the deomocratic party since that is usually what accompanies Republican.

I do need to learn how to write and compose my thoughts much better. I just dont do so well at conveying my opinion and it leads to misconceptions and often a lot of angry rhetoric.

SO on August 15th I start a college english course (EN105) and I am going to take all four classes that should bring me through professional writing (Rhetoric). I need it and a typing course badly. This next year will be bloody but I will fix this.