If you're interested in becoming addicted to a new entertainment vehicle, I recommend tuning in to American Movie Classic's (AMC) "MadMen" marathon today, in which all episodes of season 1 will be replayed. Season 2 begins next Sunday night.
The show revolves around an early 1960's Madison Avenue advertising firm, and it is brilliant, stylish, and interesting. Obviously, they've glammed up 1960 a bit, but it really does look like a pretty cool world. Some things will jump out, such as the ubiquity of alcohol and smoking (I wonder what kind of liability insurance the producers have, what with all the second hand smoke on set), the amazingly true-to-life costuming of the characters, and the seriously locker-room mentality of the firm (a business now dominated by women and gay men).
Give it a shot; I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Timberlake or Brady?
Ok guys, if you could swap places with Justin Timberlake or Tom Brady for a day (or a week, or a life...) which would it be? Talk amongst yourselves.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Al Gore, Wind Machine
Al Gore's speech yesterday on renewable energy was yet another example of his getting the story on energy right from A-Y, but predictably missing on the next step. Al's got a lot of flaws, and his bloviating on man's contributions to global warming is downright zany, but moving away from coal and oil for our nation's energy needs simply makes good sense. Al's got a point in this speech, but by completely ignoring one major source of immediate relief, he fails to grasp fully the tools we have at our disposal. Nuclear energy is sitting here, proven and safe. We need to invest in more nuclear energy, but it apparently doesn't register in Al's world.
Fourth Law of Thermodynamics....
Back in my Navy days, we used to cite the little known "fourth law of thermodynamics", which states that "if the heat's on him, it's not on you!" America's Air Force has come in for a lot of heat lately, much of it deserved. This latest story on the upgrades to executive lift accommodations for USAF brass is a bit of a cheap shot though.
I've traveled extensively with four-star officers in while on active duty. If the average American knew what we paid these guys (about $168,000), they'd realize we get amazingly talented individuals to serve in relatively low-paying positions at a time in their lives when their corporate counterparts are raking in millions of dollars. I'm not excusing the horrible optics associated with this story, but I am suggesting that making the flying a bit more comfortable for people who travel constantly on our nation's business for an hourly rate of about $40 an hour isn't necessarily a national crime.
I've traveled extensively with four-star officers in while on active duty. If the average American knew what we paid these guys (about $168,000), they'd realize we get amazingly talented individuals to serve in relatively low-paying positions at a time in their lives when their corporate counterparts are raking in millions of dollars. I'm not excusing the horrible optics associated with this story, but I am suggesting that making the flying a bit more comfortable for people who travel constantly on our nation's business for an hourly rate of about $40 an hour isn't necessarily a national crime.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Have You Hugged an Illegal Immigrant Today?
I have. Well, he's legal now at least. But my beloved brother-in-law initially entered this country illegally from Ireland, something I only learned today. He came seeking a better life than that in his native country, which when he left it, was the sick old man of the former British empire.
I'm glad that President Reagan signed immigration reform in the 80's that allowed him to go back to Ireland and re-apply to return and stay legally.
That seems to me to be a logical part of any new immigration reform. We need to do a better job of controlling our borders, we need to do a better job of tracking folks who come here and then overstay their visas, and we need to do a better job of figuring out how to turn those who are here already (illegally) into taxpaying, law-abiding residents. Some call it amnesty. I call it smart.
I'm glad that President Reagan signed immigration reform in the 80's that allowed him to go back to Ireland and re-apply to return and stay legally.
That seems to me to be a logical part of any new immigration reform. We need to do a better job of controlling our borders, we need to do a better job of tracking folks who come here and then overstay their visas, and we need to do a better job of figuring out how to turn those who are here already (illegally) into taxpaying, law-abiding residents. Some call it amnesty. I call it smart.
100 Visitors!
Sorry I've been a slacker for a few days. Just checked Google Analytics this morning, and it seems this little blog has attracted 100 readers in 23 states! How bout that?
"Oh No, Not the Comfy Chair!"
I wrote a bit last week about Christopher Hitchens' recent trip to the waterboard and the dangerous decline in what is actually considered torture. Two stories (here, and here) lead me to believe we've fallen even further from a realistic notion of what is to be avoided than I previously thought.
In the first, we have a detainee apparently crying for his mother. My goodness. Have we really become so heartless as to make a boy cry (putting aside for a moment that he is held for having thrown a hand grenade at US troops)?
In the second (and even more laughable), a detainee complains of sexual coercion at the hands of some presumably tempting little tomato of an Inquisitor who actually touches his thigh! Ye gads! Are we no longer civilized beings? What's next? Godiva chocolates and soft music? Do we have no standards?
In the first, we have a detainee apparently crying for his mother. My goodness. Have we really become so heartless as to make a boy cry (putting aside for a moment that he is held for having thrown a hand grenade at US troops)?
In the second (and even more laughable), a detainee complains of sexual coercion at the hands of some presumably tempting little tomato of an Inquisitor who actually touches his thigh! Ye gads! Are we no longer civilized beings? What's next? Godiva chocolates and soft music? Do we have no standards?
Obama's Foolish Consistency
It is nice to see Senator Obama coming in for criticism over his continued adherence to an arbitrary timetable for the removal of our troops from Iraq. My pleasure exists on two levels.
First, I think a public exclamation of a timetable simply gives the miscreants seeking to overthrow the Iraqi government a date after which they can operate with impunity. By saying we'll leave on this or that date, they simply head off into hiding for a bit, only to pop up again when we leave. Should we privately have timetables by which we ratchet up the pressure on the Maliki government? Absolutely. But keep it quiet.
Secondly, the Post's editorial gets at something I wrote about last week, which is questioning Senator Obama's widely heralded good judgment, when in point of fact, his lack of support for the surge has turned out to be just as wrong-headed as any who believed that we'd have a cakewalk in Iraq. While the Senator (from the relatively anonymous position of representing Hyde Park in the Illinois State Legislature) did not support the war, his recent pronouncements in opposition to the surge from the well of the US Senate and elsewhere bring his judgment seriously into question.
First, I think a public exclamation of a timetable simply gives the miscreants seeking to overthrow the Iraqi government a date after which they can operate with impunity. By saying we'll leave on this or that date, they simply head off into hiding for a bit, only to pop up again when we leave. Should we privately have timetables by which we ratchet up the pressure on the Maliki government? Absolutely. But keep it quiet.
Secondly, the Post's editorial gets at something I wrote about last week, which is questioning Senator Obama's widely heralded good judgment, when in point of fact, his lack of support for the surge has turned out to be just as wrong-headed as any who believed that we'd have a cakewalk in Iraq. While the Senator (from the relatively anonymous position of representing Hyde Park in the Illinois State Legislature) did not support the war, his recent pronouncements in opposition to the surge from the well of the US Senate and elsewhere bring his judgment seriously into question.
Maryland, NCLB, and Who?
This morning's paper contained a generous editorial finally casting some credit for increasing Maryland standardized test scores to the landmark 2002 No Child Left Behind Act.
Yet nowhere in the editorial is the mention of one name: George W. Bush, President of the United States. Local educators in Maryland come in for praise, as well they should. But failure to mention the incredibly important role of a man who won the Presidency--in no small measure due to his dedication to improving education nationwide--is simply inexcusable.
Yet nowhere in the editorial is the mention of one name: George W. Bush, President of the United States. Local educators in Maryland come in for praise, as well they should. But failure to mention the incredibly important role of a man who won the Presidency--in no small measure due to his dedication to improving education nationwide--is simply inexcusable.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Women's Soccer
Ok, I really, really need to be careful about what I say in this post. My wonderful girlfriend doesn't really get into politics or blogs, so it is likely she won't read this. But if she does, I need to keep it on the up and up. As a champion sailor and Division I athlete in two sports, my kitten does not cotton to these rambles.
All things considered, there is not a single sport that both men and women play that I find myself thinking the women's game is as good....except soccer. I just watched a great bit of the US vs. Brazil in women's soccer, and the quality of play was incredibly high. Best of all though, you don't get the whining, writhing scenes of players clutching shins and ankles, racking up injury time and extending the game. You also don't see a lot of fake dives designed to make the other person look they committed a foul. The game is clean, fast, technically beautiful and exciting.
There may be another game I enjoy watching the women play as much as the men....golf. But that's only because women's golfers have gotten much younger, better looking and more attractively clothed in the recent past.
All things considered, there is not a single sport that both men and women play that I find myself thinking the women's game is as good....except soccer. I just watched a great bit of the US vs. Brazil in women's soccer, and the quality of play was incredibly high. Best of all though, you don't get the whining, writhing scenes of players clutching shins and ankles, racking up injury time and extending the game. You also don't see a lot of fake dives designed to make the other person look they committed a foul. The game is clean, fast, technically beautiful and exciting.
There may be another game I enjoy watching the women play as much as the men....golf. But that's only because women's golfers have gotten much younger, better looking and more attractively clothed in the recent past.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Phil Gramm and Whining Americans
Phil Gramm's recent comments about the toughness of John Q. Public were right on the mark, profoundly insightful, and just plain stupid.
Recently citing a "mental recession", Gramm referred to the US having become "...a nation of whiners." What Gramm was talking about here was the propensity of Americans to over-estimate the decline of their economy beyond that which actual "facts on the ground" would suggest. It is common to hear incredible gnashing of teeth about an economy which at last check, had historically low interest rates, unemployment, and inflation. Yes, there are problems, serious ones, which require serious solutions. But this is not the Great Depression, and it is not even technically a recession.
That said, Phil Gramm was unwise to say what he did. It doesn't matter how right a politician is, you don't get elected (or get your man elected) by criticizing the American electorate. Barack Obama found this in Pennsylvania with his "clinging to their guns and religion" riff. The American Public is a pouty, preening group who thinks that this country's "shining city on a hill" status somehow imbues them with perfect judgment and clarity. It doesn't. The genius of our founders was ensuring a system in which individual, group and class interests would clash with each other. They didn't devise a system for perfect people, they devised a good system for a nation of self-interested individuals of varying intelligence and civic virtue.
Phil Gramm's comments reflect that varying intelligence, both in their criticisms and in the flawed nature of their delivery.
Recently citing a "mental recession", Gramm referred to the US having become "...a nation of whiners." What Gramm was talking about here was the propensity of Americans to over-estimate the decline of their economy beyond that which actual "facts on the ground" would suggest. It is common to hear incredible gnashing of teeth about an economy which at last check, had historically low interest rates, unemployment, and inflation. Yes, there are problems, serious ones, which require serious solutions. But this is not the Great Depression, and it is not even technically a recession.
That said, Phil Gramm was unwise to say what he did. It doesn't matter how right a politician is, you don't get elected (or get your man elected) by criticizing the American electorate. Barack Obama found this in Pennsylvania with his "clinging to their guns and religion" riff. The American Public is a pouty, preening group who thinks that this country's "shining city on a hill" status somehow imbues them with perfect judgment and clarity. It doesn't. The genius of our founders was ensuring a system in which individual, group and class interests would clash with each other. They didn't devise a system for perfect people, they devised a good system for a nation of self-interested individuals of varying intelligence and civic virtue.
Phil Gramm's comments reflect that varying intelligence, both in their criticisms and in the flawed nature of their delivery.
Waterboarding, Torture, and Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens' article in Vanity Fair laying out his recent voluntary exposure to waterboarding is fascinating stuff, as most of Hitchens' writing is (I exclude here his nasty treatises on atheism). After undergoing this most celebrated of techniques, he declares that it is indeed torture.
He may be right, to him, waterboarding is torture. But let's face it. How likely is Hitch to ever have faced any other torture technique? Is there any sense of comparison or relativity here? Is there some magic line over which an interrogation practice steps in which it is no longer subject to relative evaluation? Is loud music constantly played equivalent to waterboarding, equivalent to torture? Is waterboarding equivalent to some of the techniques imposed on our prisoners in Viet Nam?
The point here is that the Bush Administration actually sought to try and define torture in a manner that would give it tools of persuasion it felt were necessary to prosecute the war on Islamic fascism. Those tools included waterboarding which, it found, was on a scale of practice significantly below those thought to constitute torture under the famous ":
"We conclude that for an act to constitute torture as defined in Section 2340, it must inflict pain that is difficult to endure. Physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent to intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death. For purely mental pain or suffering to amount to torture under Section 2340, it must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g., lasting for months or even years. We conclude that the mental harm also must result from one of the predicate acts listed in the statute, namely: threats of imminent death; threats of infliction of the kind of pain that would amount to physical torture; infliction of such physical pain as a means of psychological torture; use of drugs or other procedures designed to deeply disrupt the senses, or fundamentally alter an individual’s personality; or threatening to do any of these things to a third party."
The problem with calling waterboarding torture, no matter how uncomfortable it may make the subject, is that it opens the door to greatly diminishing the real physical and mental effects which make true torture an abhorrent practice. I don't doubt Hitch found waterboarding uncomfortable, and given his 15000 cigarette a year habit, life threatening. I don't doubt that Khaild Sheik Mohammed also found his experience uncomfortable. But by the definition put forward by the Bush Administration (one that I believe to be well-reasoned), waterboarding is not torture.
Aside: though this is a serious subject, I am reminded of the great Monty Python sketch in which the Inquisitor, vested in the robes of the Church, sentences a non-believer to "the comfy chair".
He may be right, to him, waterboarding is torture. But let's face it. How likely is Hitch to ever have faced any other torture technique? Is there any sense of comparison or relativity here? Is there some magic line over which an interrogation practice steps in which it is no longer subject to relative evaluation? Is loud music constantly played equivalent to waterboarding, equivalent to torture? Is waterboarding equivalent to some of the techniques imposed on our prisoners in Viet Nam?
The point here is that the Bush Administration actually sought to try and define torture in a manner that would give it tools of persuasion it felt were necessary to prosecute the war on Islamic fascism. Those tools included waterboarding which, it found, was on a scale of practice significantly below those thought to constitute torture under the famous ":
"We conclude that for an act to constitute torture as defined in Section 2340, it must inflict pain that is difficult to endure. Physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent to intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death. For purely mental pain or suffering to amount to torture under Section 2340, it must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g., lasting for months or even years. We conclude that the mental harm also must result from one of the predicate acts listed in the statute, namely: threats of imminent death; threats of infliction of the kind of pain that would amount to physical torture; infliction of such physical pain as a means of psychological torture; use of drugs or other procedures designed to deeply disrupt the senses, or fundamentally alter an individual’s personality; or threatening to do any of these things to a third party."
The problem with calling waterboarding torture, no matter how uncomfortable it may make the subject, is that it opens the door to greatly diminishing the real physical and mental effects which make true torture an abhorrent practice. I don't doubt Hitch found waterboarding uncomfortable, and given his 15000 cigarette a year habit, life threatening. I don't doubt that Khaild Sheik Mohammed also found his experience uncomfortable. But by the definition put forward by the Bush Administration (one that I believe to be well-reasoned), waterboarding is not torture.
Aside: though this is a serious subject, I am reminded of the great Monty Python sketch in which the Inquisitor, vested in the robes of the Church, sentences a non-believer to "the comfy chair".
Retire Already, Brett
I love Brett Favre (I can never say or write that name without thinking about Ben Stiller in "There's Something about Mary"). His joy in playing the game of football, his thorough inability to understand that throwing the ball harder won't necessarily mean the other team won't catch it, and his schnauzer-like baiting of defensive linemen all serve to put me squarely in the Favre Fan Club.
That said, his decision to try and come out of retirement is a bad one. Now I'm all for individual rights, don't get me wrong. But I'm also for binding contracts. The Packers own Brett Favre's NFL rights and if he voluntarily retired, so be it. He is retired. If he wishes to play again, the Packers have a right to take him up on the offer or decline it, even as they deprive another team of his service.
That said, his decision to try and come out of retirement is a bad one. Now I'm all for individual rights, don't get me wrong. But I'm also for binding contracts. The Packers own Brett Favre's NFL rights and if he voluntarily retired, so be it. He is retired. If he wishes to play again, the Packers have a right to take him up on the offer or decline it, even as they deprive another team of his service.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Building Roads is What Government Does
The government of the Commonwealth of Virginia continues to stumblebumble its way through transportation policy. Classic city vs. rural, Republican vs. Democrat battle going on here. Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia need enlightened transportation solutions. More roads, different kinds of roads, mass transit, etc. All of this costs money. This is what government (especially state government) is supposed to do. Additionally, this is what the federal government is supposed to do (see interstate commerce clause, US Constitution).
But the Republicans in Richmond have done a fine job of locking down any real enhancements to Virginia's roads by allowing rural interests to cause a stalemate. Virginia needs better transit; I'm sure the fine Republicans in Richmond could get busy with finding offsets in the budget from other superfluous programs to contribute to road building. Maybe the lottery proceeds should go to transportation (but wait, then education would be underfunded, as the Virginia Legislature walked away from its fiduciary duties to state education when the lottery goose laid its golden egg.)
I'm a conservative, I'm a Republican, and I am embarrassed at the conduct of the Virginia GOP.
But the Republicans in Richmond have done a fine job of locking down any real enhancements to Virginia's roads by allowing rural interests to cause a stalemate. Virginia needs better transit; I'm sure the fine Republicans in Richmond could get busy with finding offsets in the budget from other superfluous programs to contribute to road building. Maybe the lottery proceeds should go to transportation (but wait, then education would be underfunded, as the Virginia Legislature walked away from its fiduciary duties to state education when the lottery goose laid its golden egg.)
I'm a conservative, I'm a Republican, and I am embarrassed at the conduct of the Virginia GOP.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
This morning's Washington Post contains an editorial calling for the end of the controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy governing gays in the military. I am still thinking about where I stand on this, but I have a few thoughts on the subject.
First of all, the notion that gays are somehow being hunted down and rooted-out of the military is just not true. In the ten plus years in which I served in the military under the policy, I did not witness nor was I even tangentially associated with the discharge of a gay person that didn't ultimately start with a freely made admission of homosexual conduct. That is, the person in question came forward and voluntarily admitted to homosexual conduct. In this position, a commander has little choice; the policy has been violated and so the person must be processed for discharge. Not once did I see or hear of an investigation of any kind that "outed" someone serving honorably and quietly carrying on their personal sexual life.
Secondly, admitting to homosexual conduct is a virtual guarantee of discharge with little or no besmirchment of one's record (unlike testing positive for drugs). "Coming out" is a relatively pain free way of breaking one's enlistment contract when one comes to realize that military service might not be exactly what the recruiter sold them. (See also under this method of breaking one's contract: suicidal ideation. I used to drive my senior enlisted adviser nuts when he would bring me an "I'm thinking of hurting myself" case and I would say something like "You're full of s--t. You love yourself too much to do something like that.")
Thirdly, if any sex is hurting our readiness, it is heterosexual sex. In my crew, that meant Seaman Timmy and Seaman Tammy schtupping each other resulting predictably in Seaman Tammy's pregnancy and loss to the crew. Because the personnel system couldn't send us a new Tammy for six or seven months, we'd be shorthanded. Eight pregnancies in the sixty days before our deployment (six months away from home)...I wrote my entire crew an email citing statistic after statistic on how disadvantaged single parent raised children were. Boy did I raise a stink! My boss sent it to his boss as an example of the innovative ways waterfront captains were using to stem the tide of this problem...the big boss thought I was being to harsh and controversial....
Finally though, I do think it is probably time to just trash the whole policy. I honestly believe that young people today (i.e. those who make up the vast majority of our military) are a lot more accepting of deviant behavior (and by that, I mean deviating from the norm--this is not a value judgment) and that fears in a decline of unit cohesion are overblown.
First of all, the notion that gays are somehow being hunted down and rooted-out of the military is just not true. In the ten plus years in which I served in the military under the policy, I did not witness nor was I even tangentially associated with the discharge of a gay person that didn't ultimately start with a freely made admission of homosexual conduct. That is, the person in question came forward and voluntarily admitted to homosexual conduct. In this position, a commander has little choice; the policy has been violated and so the person must be processed for discharge. Not once did I see or hear of an investigation of any kind that "outed" someone serving honorably and quietly carrying on their personal sexual life.
Secondly, admitting to homosexual conduct is a virtual guarantee of discharge with little or no besmirchment of one's record (unlike testing positive for drugs). "Coming out" is a relatively pain free way of breaking one's enlistment contract when one comes to realize that military service might not be exactly what the recruiter sold them. (See also under this method of breaking one's contract: suicidal ideation. I used to drive my senior enlisted adviser nuts when he would bring me an "I'm thinking of hurting myself" case and I would say something like "You're full of s--t. You love yourself too much to do something like that.")
Thirdly, if any sex is hurting our readiness, it is heterosexual sex. In my crew, that meant Seaman Timmy and Seaman Tammy schtupping each other resulting predictably in Seaman Tammy's pregnancy and loss to the crew. Because the personnel system couldn't send us a new Tammy for six or seven months, we'd be shorthanded. Eight pregnancies in the sixty days before our deployment (six months away from home)...I wrote my entire crew an email citing statistic after statistic on how disadvantaged single parent raised children were. Boy did I raise a stink! My boss sent it to his boss as an example of the innovative ways waterfront captains were using to stem the tide of this problem...the big boss thought I was being to harsh and controversial....
Finally though, I do think it is probably time to just trash the whole policy. I honestly believe that young people today (i.e. those who make up the vast majority of our military) are a lot more accepting of deviant behavior (and by that, I mean deviating from the norm--this is not a value judgment) and that fears in a decline of unit cohesion are overblown.
Skin Cancer Drops Among Young Men
Good news from the medical front, it seems as though skin cancer rates among young men have begun to level off (and slightly decline). Bad news is that young women's rates have increased.
Considerable space in this short story is devoted to why rates have gone up for young women, and the culprit is apparently tanning beds. But little time is spent on why rates have leveled off for men. I think I have the answer---video games.
I'm amazed at how pervasive video games are among younger men. At 43, I am sort of on the cusp of the phenomenon. While heading off to sea all those years, there was clearly a generational divide between those who congregated in the wardroom to watch movies and those who went to their staterooms to play video games. I always considered my billion dollar AEGIS Cruisers and Destroyers to be the ultimate video games, but alas, my young officers sought ever increasing levels of enjoyment from an ever increasing array of video complexity. My Chief Petty Officers in the ship I commanded networked a bunch of computers together in their mess so that they could play games with six or seven folks at a time. I'd walk in and just shake my head.
So, as our young men become whiter (can I say that?) and less susceptible to skin cancer, they become doughy and slothful. Win some, lose some.
Considerable space in this short story is devoted to why rates have gone up for young women, and the culprit is apparently tanning beds. But little time is spent on why rates have leveled off for men. I think I have the answer---video games.
I'm amazed at how pervasive video games are among younger men. At 43, I am sort of on the cusp of the phenomenon. While heading off to sea all those years, there was clearly a generational divide between those who congregated in the wardroom to watch movies and those who went to their staterooms to play video games. I always considered my billion dollar AEGIS Cruisers and Destroyers to be the ultimate video games, but alas, my young officers sought ever increasing levels of enjoyment from an ever increasing array of video complexity. My Chief Petty Officers in the ship I commanded networked a bunch of computers together in their mess so that they could play games with six or seven folks at a time. I'd walk in and just shake my head.
So, as our young men become whiter (can I say that?) and less susceptible to skin cancer, they become doughy and slothful. Win some, lose some.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Black Holes are Racist
Indeed. Check this out. While conducting a meeting of county commissioners, a white commissioner complained of a traffic ticket office having become a "black hole". He was immediately set upon by two black commissioners who found his use of the term "black hole" racially insensitive. I'm not making this up folks.
As a racially sensitive white man, I propose the following be stricken from our lexicon:
white noise, white-out, white wedding, all Navy uniforms with the word "white" in them, whitecap, teeth "whitening".
Thank you.
As a racially sensitive white man, I propose the following be stricken from our lexicon:
white noise, white-out, white wedding, all Navy uniforms with the word "white" in them, whitecap, teeth "whitening".
Thank you.
Heavyweight Championship
There is a big boxing match this weekend, one in which three heavyweight crowns are up for grabs. You didn't know this? My post is the first you've heard of it? Well, be not fearful of your masculinity (if you possess it), as I'm not sure I know anyone who knew there was a heavyweight fight this weekend. The decline of boxing as a major sport in the past twenty-five years has been precipitous and sad. The great heavyweight fights of the 70's, followed by the incredible middle/welterweight fights of the 80's, have always struck me as among the sporting world's grandest spectacles.
Where did boxing go? Killed by truly horrible spectacles like "Ultimate Fighting" and the like. I miss the elegance and the fury of boxing at the highest level. These new brands of fighting simply don't stack up.
Where did boxing go? Killed by truly horrible spectacles like "Ultimate Fighting" and the like. I miss the elegance and the fury of boxing at the highest level. These new brands of fighting simply don't stack up.
Academic Gains in DC Schools
Good news from ground zero in education performance; there have been noticeable gains in performance among DC students in standardized math and science tests. This is an excellent story, one that brings hope that profoundly dysfunctional school systems can change.
What I find odd about this story is the angle on who should be credited with the increase. Should it be the former Chancellor, Clifford Janey, or the current Chancellor, Michelle Rhee? Interesting question, though one that ignores the 800 pound gorilla in the room....President Bush. Though I question the federal government's role in education beyond that of a funding engine, it is inconceivable that a discussion of performance in schools these days does not at least tacitly acknowledge the contribution of standards and enforcement made by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.
Used to date a teacher once, and boy, did she complain about "No Child Left Behind". "It is forcing us to teach to the test" she would say. She'd say it to whomever would listen...finally, one day, I asked her if prior to NCLB she was in the habit of testing her students on material she hadn't taught. She did not find my question funny.
What I find odd about this story is the angle on who should be credited with the increase. Should it be the former Chancellor, Clifford Janey, or the current Chancellor, Michelle Rhee? Interesting question, though one that ignores the 800 pound gorilla in the room....President Bush. Though I question the federal government's role in education beyond that of a funding engine, it is inconceivable that a discussion of performance in schools these days does not at least tacitly acknowledge the contribution of standards and enforcement made by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.
Used to date a teacher once, and boy, did she complain about "No Child Left Behind". "It is forcing us to teach to the test" she would say. She'd say it to whomever would listen...finally, one day, I asked her if prior to NCLB she was in the habit of testing her students on material she hadn't taught. She did not find my question funny.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Jesse Jackson, Urologist
I love Jesse Jackson; he can always be counted on to say things worth hearing. Bottom line here? If Barack Obama is pissing Jesse Jackson off, then maybe he's not all bad.
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