StickWithANose

One of the defining characteristics of a “Banana Republic” is the looting of public treasuries to the benefit of the economically and politically powerful. If the greatest wealth transfer in human history wasn’t enough to convince you that we’re reaching that point then surely this will. The final numbers are in on the Bush Tax [...]

I used this video in my intro. sociology class today as a way of talking about race, identity and socialization. It tears me up every time I watch it.

The political right has long occupied itself with the idea of media bias. Using such fanciful terms as “multi-cultural elite” and “drive-by media,” pols and pundits alike have managed to conceptually organize working-class grassroots activists, middle class college professors, middle class journalists and wealthy media personalities into a sinister political bloc intent on destroying the [...]

UCLA professor Mike Rose offers a thoughtful piece on the current trajectory of education reform in Washington that is well worth your time, however I am afraid that he ends up missing the elephant in the room. He begins with a thorough detailing of the charter school and accountability fetishes that provides a good summary [...]

Evans-Pritchard offers a compelling argument that makes for a powerful critique of all the pearl-clutching over the dollar, and it is a perspective that I provisionally share.
Let me stick my neck out.
The dollar will still be the world’s dominant reserve currency in 2030, sharing a degree of leadership in uneasy condominium with the Chinese yuan. [...]

The venture philanthropists are nothing if not methodical. They use tried and true methods to expand the scope of charter schooling and alternative licensure programs by exploiting weak communities that are desperate for resources and lacking in political capital with promises of creating innovative schools staffed by trained professionals. Simply put, the method goes as [...]

With linkage to a huge pdf file! Here’s the one that made the news and is amazingly damning… More here…

—–Original Message—-From:
Merritt, Roxie T. CAPT, OASD-PA <Roxie.Merritt Bryan, SES, OASD-PA <.B .W· a” 0 <George. Rhynedance;~W~;//’?>’ .. Lawrence, Dallas OASD-PA <Roxie ,Merritt LCD cc: Sent: Fri Jan 14 19:25:08 2005
Subject: RE:New Ideas for Military analyst [...]

… is because I fear communist infiltrators…
… and hope to protect my precious bodily fluids…
… which are under threat from a Maoist insurgency…
… and fluoridated water…
… the tool of fascistic-communists in the Obama administration…

The thing about statistical measures is that they have a way of taking on a life of their own. The often quoted measures that we use to understand economic health and social well-being, such as unemployment and poverty rates, are by no means exhaustive nor do they necessarily represent the best measures available. For example, [...]