Clear View

NBC News' Education Nation Conversation

2010-09-26T13:33:00.001-05:00

Drop standardized tests as the fundamental benchmark of teaching/teacher effectiveness - for many of the reasons commonly given, PLUS, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, because of the fact that they capture FAR TOO LITTLE of what learning actually does occur in and by students and, therefore, FAR TOO LITTLE of what must be known and considered. Remember this symbol: "L-". It tells what we need to keep in

It Doesn't Matter if a Politician or Officeholder is a "Liar"

2010-08-07T13:57:00.003-05:00

What's the worst thing anyone can say about a politician or public official? It's not that he/she is a fraud, a crook, or, the most toxic: a liar. In fact, these are almost totally useless, to the point that, when I hear them, I'm tempted to say: "Who cares?" The trouble with these appellations is that they go to motivations, a real danger zone for public debate. And they commit the "argumentum

How to Thrive as a School Principal

2009-08-09T00:10:00.003-05:00

OK, if you're an elementary school principal, or teacher, in Chicago (perhaps anywhere in Illinois, for that matter), not to worry about job security, because here's how it really works : Set yourself up at a public school in a neighborhood that's going through gentrification. Make sure a stream of "yuppies" and other trendy young parents - with their well-equipped children ("well equipped" in

Time for a Simple, Structural Reform of our Presidential Elections

2008-11-07T15:50:00.001-06:00

No real change can be expected in our national election procedures until we address a structural fact of life - this is a confederation of 50 states, it is not a centrally-powerful unified nation. Our elections - even our election for the only two positions with national domain - President and Vice President of the US - are managed under the power and domain of local governments at the county,

Solving the 50 State Bottleneck

2008-05-25T12:15:00.004-05:00

Earlier I wrote about the impossible bottle neck of 50 states in the US funneling down to one federal level government organ and the awful inefficiencies that that alone may have created. Given some assent on that point, here's the solution: Require each state to form an alliance with one or more neighboring states over some fixed time period by forming a governing entity/mechanism that will

Memorial Day Remembrance for One of My Senators

2007-05-26T13:28:00.001-05:00

Dear Senator Durbin: You failed us. You and former Senator Graham of Florida, and others on the Intelligence Committees in Congress, of both parties, failed us miserably. I suppose that, as elected officials, you are not free to "resign

USA Ranks Below World's Leaders for Having a Clean Public Sector

2007-04-23T14:32:00.001-05:00

More on Where US Ranks Worldwide From an article in The Christian Science Monitor (4/23/07) citing this source, Transparency International/RICH CLABAUGH STAFF, comes the news that our country ranks only 20th in a list of nations for transparency against corruption in its public sector. My question is: "Where are we headed and how fast are we getting there?"

The Will - And The Money - Of The People: A New Idea That Has NO CHANCE!

2006-10-23T01:39:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick and simple campaign finance reform - Require that any contributions to a candidate MUST designate THAT CANDIDATE and THAT ONE CAMPAIGN as the ONLY permissible beneficiary of that money. The donor would indicate on, and at the donation, for whom it was intended and for which one campaign it is to be used. Candidates could raise as much as they want in this manner, without limit,

Mark Foley, Congressional Pages and Revisiting a Silly NonIssue

2006-10-05T22:29:00.000-05:00

Some months ago I wrote about a silly non-issue - the fact that our Senators and Congressmen sometimes miss recording their votes on issues because they're not physically present on Capitol Hill. I raised the point that, in the year 2006, that's about the silliest thing there is. Give me a break - if you need to vote but are not there at the moment, just fax it in, e-mail it, Blackberry it,

Iraq is Bush's Personal War, No One Else's

2006-07-12T22:40:00.000-05:00

One misconception about our miserably-managed Iraq War is the notion that this war is identified with, and somehow "owned" by, the Republicans more than it is by Democrats. Yes it certainly appears that way, and is treated as such, by common observers and commentators. But the truth is that it's neither party's war, nor in any real sense is it America's war. The Afghanistan war, yes it was; the

Bill Schneider Falls into All-Too-Popular Habit of Mindless Commentary

2006-04-16T20:40:00.000-05:00

Did you see where the pollster, Bill Schneider, who generally does such a good job bringing, and interpreting for us, the latest poll data, committed that same conventional wisdom faux pas over the weekend when he closed his oral report by saying (I paraphrase slightly): "...but no one has offered a plan for Iraq." This is lazy commentating that just grabs hold of some convenient (but

Health Care and Private Enterprise

2006-03-10T11:08:00.000-06:00

Have you ever donated money to the effort to boost research on household refrigerators? How about donating to the cause of developing new products in the frozen food category? ...or for the building trades, for better wheelbarrows, roller coasters or bicycles? If you're saying "That would be silly!", I ask you if you'd also say it's silly to donate to the Heart Association, to Cancer research

Downing Street Memo Won't Die on the Vine - Will It?

2005-06-18T19:45:00.000-05:00

David Spero said it exactly right in The Desert Sun today:According to the memo, Bush created an elaborate plot to invade Iraq as early as 2002. Therefore, all that talk about aluminum tubes, portable biological labs and weapons of mass destruction was nothing more than verbal theatrics. Bush's endlessly reiterated phrase that war was to be used 'only as a last resort' was deceptive, as were the

How Does the USA Stack Up Worldwide?

2005-03-27T12:50:00.000-06:00

In no particular order, here are some interesting data on how the US stacks up vs. other countries on basic measures of economics, education, health care, poverty and one measure each of press freedom and popular entertainment. Sources are given to enable you to judge veracity and check data for yourself. I identified the first 10 in March, 2005, then added two Updates, in June 2005, as #11, 12.1

50 States Is Too Many

2005-02-18T09:49:00.000-06:00

For better or worse, we are not one simple unified country and we never have been. By our very name, United States of America, we are well labeled: a consortium, or federation, of states. We started as 13 - a manageable number, I suppose - but 50? Come on!50 states and one federal government - it makes one odd looking funnel, doesn't it? More like a disastrously planned highway merger. Ha-Ha!

Freedom Of The Press - To Do Just As It's Told

2005-01-17T15:50:00.000-06:00

That's the kind of freedom of the press we have, thanks to our duty-bound and ultra cooperative broadcast media. Today's daily Nightline program note from Gerry Holmes & The Nightline Staff caught my angry and outraged eye, to wit: You may or may not remember the haunting pictures released last April of rows of caskets lined up in the back of a C-5 cargo plane that had landed at Dover Air Force

Beware the Reformers

2005-01-15T10:39:00.000-06:00

Here in Illinois we just had a rare experience - first hand witness to a campaign with Alan Keyes in it. Talk about cynicism let loose, this was the classic case, and it exposed the irony of how it's such fun to ridicule the entire public sector, to be cynical about government, to decry the corrosive effect of money on our political system, etc., etc., while NEVER thinking about the consequences

Another Reason Our Progressive Federal Income Tax Is Right And Just

2004-12-31T10:04:00.000-06:00

War has always been a past time, a plaything really, of the rich and wealthy; engaged in to protect or expand their estates, which nowadays are their enterprises and empires. From medieval times to today, it's generally been peasants and paupers who man the armies that protect the assets, estates and property of the rich and wealthy. When did you ever hear of peasants or laborers raising a

What Presidential Leadership is Not

2004-12-22T09:28:00.000-06:00

Leadership is NOT walking the country into a real messy situation that boxes us into a corner WITH NO GOOD OPTIONS for what to do next. Whether it's the tragic mess in Iraq or our huge and growing deficits, it makes one ask: "Hey, whose idea was this anyway?" or "What ever happened to the idea of keeping our powder dry and our options open?" Then, when our so-called leader does choose an option

Want a War? Come Up With the People and Money

2004-12-19T11:22:00.000-06:00

A simple declaration: It should somehow be made IMPOSSIBLE for a President to engage the country in an elective war (e.g., Iraq I or II, Bosnia/Kosovo, Haiti, etc., but not necessarily war with Japan after Pearl Harbor, nor with Afghanistan after 9/11) without simultaneously doing two things: 1) Instituting a fair draft to ensure that the threat to life and limb is widely shared and that the

Politicians: Scumbags or Revered Leaders?

2004-12-13T11:25:00.000-06:00

Some people are perennially upset by politicians, call them "no good corrupt scumbags", and rail against them endlessly because they seize our hard-earned money in taxes. BUT these same people stand sturdily behind the same, now suddenly revered national leaders, blindly saluting the "scumbags" whenever they call for our sons and daughters to fight and die in their bloody wars. Wars like George

Silly Nonissue - Congressional Attendance

2004-12-09T13:47:00.000-06:00

This seals it. USA Today reported (see USATODAY.com - Electronic payments surpass paper checks - Posted 12/6/2004 3:17 PM, Updated 12/7/2004 8:13 AM) that "The number of electronic payment transactions last year totaled 44.5 billion — exceeding the number of checks paid, 36.7 billion — according to Federal Reserve studies released Monday."What does that have to do with absenteeism from Congress

The Death Penalty Is UnAmerican

2004-12-09T01:09:00.000-06:00

Advocates on all sides of the capital punishment debate often get caught up in endless arguments about how to make administration of the death penalty fair and flawless in application. A “moral certainty", to use former Illinois Governor Ryan’s phrase - so that we can feel OK about having it on the books. This pointless debate misses a crucial point. In their genius, our founding fathers

Awash In Ignorance and Proud of It

2004-12-09T01:02:00.000-06:00

This is not a total perspective on what happened in the election last Nov. 2 – far from it. Instead, it’s simply my contribution of some examples of how our intermediators do a lot of the little things badly, day after day after day. (BTW: By “intermediators” I mean reporters, analysts, commentators, etc., anyone who operated on the air waves or in the press covering the campaign, holding forth

Catchy Sloganeering Gets Ink, Costs Lives

2004-12-08T23:55:00.000-06:00

During the run up to the War in Iraq, did the oft-heard phrase “weapons of mass destruction” ever strike you as propaganda, or sophistic sloganeering; like the catchy tag line in an overexposed advertising campaign? Talk about over exposed, that phrase eventually became a mindless mantra, a solemn chant, a “collective cognitive imperative” that spawned a false consciousness in the body politic,