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- Tue 21 May 5:48 PMThought Experiment on Keystone Pipeline.
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by mike_cote - Tue 21 May 2:25 PMSen. Barry Finegold plots run for State Treasurer
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by merrimackguy - Tue 21 May 11:34 AMSupport civil legal aid
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by debsilva - Tue 21 May 10:07 AMState audit confirms salary overpayments to DDS provider
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by dave-from-hvad - Mon 20 May 11:57 PMScott Brown released his military records. Why hasn't Gabriel Gomez?
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by seamusromney - Mon 20 May 7:40 PMRIP, Ray Manzarek
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by somervilletom - Mon 20 May 11:00 AMGomez disparages Rep. Markey's years in Congress while using 31-year Congressman McCain to raise funds
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by laurel - Mon 20 May 7:27 AMDear Colleagues, Do you get tired of emails you get from our organization do something about state budget cuts?
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by judy-meredith - Sun 19 May 10:46 PMSo What's Gomez's Position on the Assault Weapons Ban?
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by johnk - Sat 18 May 10:52 PMCitizens First: A Call to Create "Charter" Police and Fire Stations, brought to you by Democrats for Public Safety Reform (DFPSR)
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by --disturbed
- Tue 21 May 5:48 PMThought Experiment on Keystone Pipeline.
mark-bail
Conservatism is the theoretical voice of this animus against the agency of the subordinate classes. It provides the most consistent and profound argument as to why the lower orders should not be allowed to exercise their independent will, why they should not be allowed to govern themselves or the polity. --Corey Robin
Person #5040: 147 Posts
Recommended: 202 times
This alone makes me (1 Reply)
want to send him money: “years of public and private sector experience. He’s a father, husband, coach, business owner and public servant.”
"If the bad taste in your mouth means something, (0 Replies)
then the bad taste in mean [sic] is equally important.” Presuming you mean “mine,” why would the bad tastes in our mouths be equal? You’re disguising an assertion as a syllogism.
You're refracting on me. (0 Replies)
What does this mean in plain English: “So the power of the tautology gives you leverage. That’s the only leverage you have. It’s also the only leverage you need” It sounds great, but what’s wrong with making your meaning clear?
I reread 1984 and teach it twice a year, but the statement 2+2=4 is fundamentally different than the proposition that “charter schools are public schools.” Mathematics exists within its own closed sphere of logic. Follow the rules and the argument is valid. 2+2=5 is not true in mathematics.
are what is called necessary truths. 2+2=5 is not mathematically true.
A tautology is a proposition.
Although experience is usually educational, (1 Reply)
I don’t think Petr needs to enter the classroom to truly understand education. Experience can be useful, but it shouldn’t be used as a canard. To understand the charter school phenomena, it can be helpful to be a public school teacher, but it’s neither necessary nor sufficient.
With that said, I have been unable to converse with Petr on charter schools. The proportion of his words to his thoughts is too skewed, and his assertions on the subject–such as charter schools are public schools– are often tautological. He relies heavily on logic with obscured premises and little evidence. And those premises are not shared by most people. It doesn’t mean he’s wrong per se, but it does mean you’re unlikely to have a satisfactory conversation on the subject.
Front page this (3 Replies)
post please, dear Editors! I realize there are too many posts on charters to post them all, but Colum’s post is insightful and helps look at charters from a unique perspective.
16 BMGers can’t all be wrong!
Waste of time? (0 Replies)
This is a political blog with a lot of uses. One is spreading news or information. Another is arguing point of view on selected topics. Another is gossiping. Another is learning. Understanding polls, learning to pick them apart, is a major part of politics.
Pixels are not scarce. They can’t be wasted. Blog posts are only a waste when you read them and don’t need to or when you comment on them. “Waste of time” blames the content; “selective attention” is the more appropriate term.
Everybody feeds yoiu, Dan. (0 Replies)
No problem there. The way to do it is be objective and don”t make assumptions without evidence. Call people on what they do say.
BMG works for Dan by giving him (1 Reply)
opportunities to feel brighter than us, and when we disagree with him or fall short of the standards he has for other people, righter than us.
I don't (0 Replies)
disagree with you, Roark.
Cannoneo says it very well, (0 Replies)
but I’ll try to summarize it in a sentence: the Waltons think unions are a scourge and they think that they are right in this belief. Their form of charity is to spread their ideas.
Another reason it’s hard to organize charter schools is that their employee turnover is very high. Unionizing is difficult and takes time. In my experience, people who teach at them tend to look for better jobs in public schools after gaining experience.
The behavior in question was wrong, (1 Reply)
even, though the 501c’s should be given some scrutiny, but let’s be clear about who did what: the IRS didn’t target wingnut groups, it’s Cincinnati branch did. That’s a major difference.
As Ezra Klein writes,
And I am shocked, shocked to see that no one here on BMG considered Dan’s interested when they failed to post on this.
Key word: internal. (0 Replies)
The release of internal polls is always strategic. They always generate buzz, but they also help fundraising–Gomez is within striking distance, he needs our help–and can bolster a failing campaign.
The one-percent is (1 Reply)
basically mixing philanthropy with education policy. They give you a lot of money if you’ll buy their ideology. It’s not enough to do well by helping you do good, you have to do good as they see it. Walmart is one of the biggest anti-union businesses in America; charter schools are seen as a way to break the back of teacher unions.
We are better off in Massachusetts than in some states where the education policy of entire cities–Camden, for example–is given over to people like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. These people think they are smarter than the rest of us and they have the money to prove it.
If you're younger than 35, you grew (2 Replies)
up with charters in Massachusetts.
Clinton was very much a man of his times. (0 Replies)
I don’t know how many other BMGers were swayed by neo-liberalism during the Clinton years. I certainly was. A Democratic President was only possible if he was some sort of conservative, and neo-liberalism was the Democrats ideological response to movement conservatism. Liberalism was largely a shambles. Clinton was formed by and helped shape his times. He should be no surprise.
Obama is very bright, but he’s no intellectual as far as I can tell. At least not in his politics. He doesn’t seem to be guided by any deep, abiding principles. He speeches certainly don’t seem to suggest any.
Obama’s also a reflection of his times. He’s a manager, not a leader or visionary. He takes things as they are and tries to make them run better. He doesn’t question their fundamental design. Managerialism is the ideological curse of our generation, and Obama embodies it, though he probably doesn’t think about it:
This is education reform in an abstract nutshell.
His tax deduction is worth (0 Replies)
about $50,000 more than my house!
Right or wrong, this is the kind of stuff that’s going to kill his candidacy. Markey has problems with his optics–like his house in Washington–but his ideology is pretty well-established in his record. We have a pretty good idea that he’ll vote the way we want. But Gomez has no record. His ideology is at best a blur. He’s running purely on optics, and this tax break looks bad. His rejection of the People’s Pledge looks bad. More Romneyesque stuff will come out. After 30 years, Markey has been pretty well vetted. Legal or not, this is a bad omen for Gomez.
This is not 2010. It’s not a mid-term. Gomez isn’t Scott Brown. To win, he needs to excite unenrolled voters at a time when most people are thinking about the Cape, not special elections. Gomez has got a tough road ahead of him.
Peter, I'd probably recommend your (0 Replies)
post, but you need more than a first sentence.
Does it really matter? (1 Reply)
What does the Secretary of Commerce do? How does it affect me?
GGW, do guys in (0 Replies)
paper houses really throw matches?
I was watching the National Geographic (0 Replies)
channel this morning. There was an hour-long episode of the habitats and behavior of trolls. Did anyone else realize that trolls hibernate after their candidates lose?