Jersey Jazzman: No Lobbyist Left Behind

Jersey Jazzman: No Lobbyist Left Behind

No Lobbyist Left Behind

by Duke

The NY Times reports that Arne Duncan wants to change No Child Left Behind to acknowledge that children are, in fact, fallible human beings:

Unless Congress acts by this fall to overhaul No Child Left Behind, the main federal law on public education, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan signaled that he would use his executive authority to free states from the law’s centerpiece requirement that all students be proficient in reading and math by 2014.

The Obama administration has been facing a mounting clamor from state school officials to waive substantial parts of the law, which President Bush signed in 2002, especially its requirement that states bring 100 percent of students to proficiency in reading and math by 2014 or else face sanctions. In March, Mr. Duncan predicted that the law would classify 80,000 of the nation’s 100,000 public schools as failing

Sometimes Funny People Aren't Funny

by Duke

Going to wander off my usual beat...

I think Tracey Morgan is one of the funniest people I've ever heard; I mean, he's hold your side kind of funny. And I understand that's purely a matter of taste, but man, his appearances on Letterman... that's funny stuff.

So this is really, really depressing:

Stand up comic and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan went on a homophobic tear last weekend during a show in Nashville. At one point he stated, “if his son was gay he better come home and talk to him like a man…or he would pull out a knife and stab that little [n-----] to death.”

Now, here’s the context in which Morgan made his remarks. For decades, queer kids have been killing themselves in response to the lethal homophobia they encounter at home, at school, in their places of worship, and in their neighborhoods. Furthermore, queer children whose parents bully and demean them are at 8 times the risk of suicide than other children. And finally, the city of