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Since 1970, the public school workforce has roughly doubled

… Since 1970, the public school workforce has roughly doubled—to 6.4 million from 3.3 million—and two-thirds of those new hires are teachers or teachers’ aides. Over the same period, enrollment rose by a tepid 8.5%. Employment has thus grown 11 times faster than enrollment. If we returned to the student-to-staff ratio of 1970, American taxpayers would save about $210 billion annually in personnel costs. …  WSJ.

Schwab.com Password security – passwords limited to 8 characters

[Still true as of July 2013] Schwab.com limits passwords to between 6 and 8 letters or numbers.  It does not allow longer passwords nor does it allow special characters, such as “!” or “$” or “%”. Limiting the selection of characters and the length greatly increases the chances that someone could hack into accounts at schwab.com.

Perhaps the management isn’t aware of the vulnerabilities this causes.  As a Schwab client since around 1994, I have been concerned about this for years and with all the issues for large banks and financial institutions over the past few months.  Unfortunately Schwab still has not addressed it.

Feb 2013 update:  Schwab has not addressed this except to recommend two factor authentication, if requested. However, if you do not have your token generator, it becomes much more inconvenient to access Schwab. An 8 character password with only alphanumeric characters is practically negligent on Schwab’s part for any year after 1995.  For Schwab’s two factor authentication, the SchwabSafe Page has more information or call Schwab at 800-435-4000.

From Schwab.com:
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn/legal_compliance/schwabsafe/your_questions_answered
“What format should my Schwab.com password take?
Your Schwab.com password should be a random combination of six to eight numbers and letters, with at least one number included between the first and last character. It should not be a significant sequence like your Social Security Number or birth date. ”

SARAH PALIN: ‘Obama Lies, Freedom Dies’

SARAH PALIN: ‘Obama Lies, Freedom Dies’

 

ABCNEWS – Obama says ObamaCare is NOT a tax, Supreme Court let’s it survive as a tax:

STEPHANOPOULOS:  You were against the individual mandate…

OBAMA:  Yes.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  …during the campaign.  Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don’t. How is that not a tax?

OBAMA:  Well, hold on a second, George. Here — here’s what’s happening.  You and I are both paying $900, on average — our families — in higher premiums because of uncompensated care.  Now what I’ve said is that if you can’t afford health insurance, you certainly shouldn’t be punished for that.  That’s just piling on. If, on the other hand, we’re giving tax credits, we’ve set up an exchange, you are now part of a big pool, we’ve driven down the costs, we’ve done everything we can and you actually can afford health insurance, but you’ve just decided, you know what, I want to take my chances.  And then you get hit by a bus and you and I have to pay for the emergency room care, that’s…

STEPHANOPOULOS:  That may be, but it’s still a tax increase.

OBAMA:  No.  That’s not true, George.  The — for us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase.

“you can pretty much put their campaign on, on a tweet and have some characters to spare.” Obama

“you can pretty much put their campaign on, on a tweet and have some characters to spare.” – President Obama, June 12, 2012

 

The President is right, it doesn’t take many characters to say things like “Freedom vs Socialism, the choice is clear.”  The concept of freedom has been around for centuries, while the power-hungry always search for ways to hold on to their power.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America ‘s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. – Obama

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising
America ‘s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.
It is a sign that the U.S. Government cannot pay its
own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing
financial assistance from foreign countries to finance
our Government’s reckless fiscal policies.

Increasing America ‘s debt weakens us domestically
and internationally. Leadership means that, “the buck
stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden
of bad choices today onto the backs of our children
and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and
a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

~ U.S. Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

 

The New Civility:SC AFL-CIO President Donna Dewitt pinata smackdown

ABC News reports that “Donna Dewitt, the outgoing president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, is seen in this video bashing a piñata of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s face while Dewitt and her colleagues were at a retreat in Columbia, S.C. Saturday afternoon.”

The racist, sexist Donna Dewitt advocating physical violence against a minority woman! A hate crime?!?!?!?! A union war on women?!?!?!?!

And another copy of the video is here: http://youtu.be/3DZq2jOscBU

One wonders where “The New Civility” we were promised in 2011 has gone.