teacherken at Daily Kos:
A parent's response to Arne Duncan
What if . . . . .
In light of the SCOTUS consideration of employer religious beliefs
mark as read
who in continuing to attack those who oppose Common Core told a group of state schools superintendents Friday that he found it “fascinating” that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were.” (the above quoted from this post at Valerie Strauss's Answer Sheet Blog) The following appeared on the Facebook page of Gretchen Moran Laskas, whose son attends school in Fairfax County VA, and is crossposted here
What if we stopped one day, looked at all the work we had done to try to make the world a better place than we found it, and instead realized despite all of our efforts, we had failed? What if we supported political candidates, helped to get them into office, only to find many of them, far too many of them, coopted by the perquisites of office, concern for reelection, or wanting to be "players" and abandoned what we thought they had promised us? What if we devoted our energy and our time and our passion to trying to make the government more responsive to we the people and less respon
I think it appropriate for me to repost words offered here in February 2012, when this issue first bubbled to the surface, in part because of advocating for such an employer religious exemption on the part of Mitch McConnell. It was titled Consider a few religious beliefs that could result in denial of health care coverage if the likes of Mitch McConnell got his way If you got sick from pork - Muslim and Jewish ... perhaps worth noting that the Buddha died when he willing ate bad pork tobacco related - Mormons, anyone? alcohol related - a whole host of Protestant religions along with Mo
YESTERDAY
Krugman explains an ACA success
in Obamacare’s Secret Success he tells us that despite the problems and complaints it is working in one key regard, holding down the growth of medical spending, or as it has been described, bending the curve of the expansion of spending. In one sense this should not have been a surprise, despite the conventional wisdom in Washington, in which the thinking is skewed: The prevalent attitude in Was
NOV 28
Eugene Robinson responds to Pope Francis
in a powerful op-ed for Friday's Washington Post titled A pope’s pointed message I am going to urge you to read it and pass it on. There are some key quotations from the Apostolic Exhortation released on Tuesday. Robinson reminds us that in the statements about economic inequity Francis is not covering new ground - as Robinson notes, The basic positions Francis takes on economic and social just
Linda Greenhouse has a fascinating piece re ACA
for those who do not know, Greenhouse was the long-time Supreme Court reporter for the New York Times who won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for her beat reporting. Since taking an early buyout she has been a senior fellow and journalist in residence at Yale Law, from which she got her legal training after graduating from Radcliffe College in 1967. Her piece is occasioned by the decision of the Supreme
NOV 27
Kristof asks "Where is the Love?"
in this New York Times column for Thanksgiving. Trust me, it is well worth the read. He wrote it in response to those who criticized him when he recently wrote about about food stamp recipients, the uninsured and prison inmates (and he provides links to those columns in the piece). He provides data that answers their criticism. Much of that data will be familiar to people here. He acknowledges th
Charles M. Blow offers his Thanksgiving
in Giving Thanks, a column for Thursday's New York Times that is available online now. Sometimes I encounter a column of which all I can say is that you should read it. It is impossible to properly summarize it, and unfair to selectively quote from it. This is such a column. Despite that, allow me to offer a bit from the middle, not even the best part. I comes after he begins the column with new
Breaking - another MD County votes to raise Minimum Wage
as one can read in this Washington Post story, the County Council in Prince George's County has joined Montgomery County in committing to raising the minimum wage to $11.50 over the next four years. For what it is worth, the two are the two largest in population of Maryland's 24 (23 counties and Baltimore City) civil jurisdictions. Between them they have more than 1/4 of the population of the sta
Teaching - Giving Thanks to students
For me, teaching is more about relationship that it is about content or skill. That is, unless I can build a relationship where students will trust me, it is hard to challenge them to the kind of intellectual growth that really matters, which is far more than memorizing facts or performing well on various tests, mine or those imposed from the outside. Once early in my career as a high school teac
Why the Affordable Care Act matters
even for all its flaws, can be seen in the difference between having insurance and not having insurance. I have never added up all the bills this year for my wife's cancer treatment. There are many. X-rays and lab tests hospitalization - both for her original emergency admission in January and for her autologous stem cell transplant in October doctor's fees hospital bed (which she still uses) ren
NOV 26
Education: I have a favor to ask
I was asked to share the following video, which was prepared by ParentVoices NY. One of those parents is the father of two young children, one of whom is in second grade in Brooklyn. These are the grandchildren of my dear friend Diane Ravitch, who asked me to post the video. Bill De Blasio has a real chance to change the direction of public education in New York City, and thereby also changing t
the moral test of a government
As Congress considers more cuts to services for the poor, be these unemployment payments, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Payments, Medicaid reimbursement rates - what ever they may be, and to the rest of the social safety net, including Medicare and Social Security ..... I would like to remind them of one of the most important moral statements ever made by a politician. They were offered by Hub
Two important columns on the Iran deal
are in this morning's newspapers. While I realize both might appear in the pundit roundup, I thought it worthwhile to call attention to both. The first is Israel's Iran Dilemma by Roger Cohen in The New York Times The second is Iran deal is a diplomatic success story by Eugen Robinson in The Washington Post Cohen notes of Israel's opposition to the plan that Israel is the status-quo Middle Eastern
NOV 25
Al Gore is now a vegan
as you can read in this blog post by Juliet Eilperin at the Washington Post. She notes that the story first surface in a passing mention in this Forbes piece on Hampton Creek Foods. The relevant paragraph in the Forbes piece, without the hot links, is as follows (with the specific words in bold): While Tetrick, Hampton Creek’s CEO, hasn’t been able to persuade everyone, it’s the type of people he
It's official - Dem Mark Herring wins Virginia AG race
as you can read in this Washington Post story, the State Board of Elections, the state Board of Elections has certified Herring as the winner by 165 votes. A couple of things to note from the story: The state Board of Elections on Monday certified Democrat Mark Herring as the winner of the Nov. 5 election for Virginia attorney general, even as the board chairman raised questions about the “integri
Krugman: I give you California
What would happen if we unveiled a program that looked like Obamacare, in a place that looked like America, but with competent project management that produced a working website? Well, your wish is granted. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you California. The words above are the key to Paul Krugman's column today, California, Here We Come? Krugman acknowledges the mess of the roll-out, but points at
NOV 24
Danger Lurks in That Mickey Mouse Couch
is the title of this New York Times column by Nick Kristof that I hope will encourage you to turn on your televisions tomorrow, not for football, but to watch a documentary titled Toxic Hot Seaton HBO. The background is simple - furniture, including that made specifically for children, contains "fire retardant" chemicals that are seriously harmful to health, whether or not they catch on
NOV 23
Torture and the Harvard Man
is the title of an op ed that appeared in yesterday's Harvard Crimson and which I read, and you can read, at Reader Supported News. The author, Glenn L. Carle, is a Harvard graduate who spent 23 years in the CIA, and wrote about his experience in a book titled Te Interrogrator. He write bluntly Torture does not work and provides virtually no useful intelligence. I was involved in the enhanced in