StickWithANose

As public discourse over budget deficits and health care continue to swirl around the bowl towards its inevitable conclusion, I’d like to take a moment to remind folks that it was St. Ronnie “the Communicator” and G.W. “the Fool” who first employed the reconciliation process to pass massive tax-cuts for the wealthiest Americans and opened [...]

While Ted Kennedy is now being eulogized as the “Liberal Lion” of the Senate, he was in fact a political horse-trader who shepherded through more than a few laws that did not emanate from the political left. The best example of this is No Child Left Behind. Kennedy’s  imprimatur provided a patina of equity to [...]

Since Glenn Beck sees menacing black folks hiding behind every corner these days, it is instructive to look back upon the history of that most austere institutions from which the Beck’s of the world take their cue: The National Review. Behold William F. Buckley’s defense of segregation: [via Tapped]
The central question that emerges . . [...]

Ostensibly, this NYT article is offering up praise for manual labor. Beginning with an inaccurate assertion that philosopher Matthew Crawford left the academy to work on motorcycles [he is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the Univ. of Virginia], the premise of the piece is that the unexpected success of [...]

Teacher Magazine has posted an interview with Rafe Esquith that is well worth the time. I found this particular response to be spot on: [h/t Schools Matter]
I don’t want to give away what’s in the the book, but what is your message on helping students learn today?
I think the absolute key is that learning, the [...]

For the past six years, my employeer based insurance provider was United Health. Being the healthy, sleek stick that I be I haven’t had to use it very often, but when I did go to a doctor United was always a pain in the ass. United does everything that it can to not pay. My [...]

Nate Silver brings some clarity to the polls on public support for health care reform. Here are five essential elements for an accurate poll:
1. Make clear that the ‘public option’ refers unambiguously to a type of health insurance, and not the actual provision of health care services by the government.
2. Make clear that by “public”, [...]

Disciplinarity is academic speak for a process by which individuals become so immersed in a particular intellectual pursuit or academic discipline that they are incapable of seeing the most obvious truths. Or to put it in plain English… If your only tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail. For scholars at the forefront [...]