teacherken at Daily Kos This Week
Bill Moyers recently gave a speech at the Brennan Institute. If you go to his website, you can read an edited version of that speech, titled The Great American Class War: Plutocracy Versus Democracy. Simply put, Moyers provides context - from a variety of sources, to what we currently confront, and how it fits in our history. He quotes Justice Brennan, and his experience of why he was a liberal.
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Today, like most Saturday mornings, I sit in my Starbucks beginning shortly after it opens at 6 AM - after all, I get up during the week at 4, and it is hard to sleep late even if I wanted to. Regular readers know I am wont to peruse various publications to see if there is writing I believe worth calling to the attention of others, or to which I wish to offer my reactions. I also might comment on events of the date, and particularly on Saturdays to reflect upon the experience of teaching. This morning I have no singular focus. There are elements of all of my normal practices, but perhaps som
is the title of this article from Popular Mechanics from 2002. I don't read that article. I would not have known about the article except for this: Read something abt someone on Fox News and the color of Jesus. I thought Popular Mechanics dealt with this in 2002... http://t.co/... — Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) December 13, 2013 Given the brouhaha over the remarks on Fox, I thought some people here might find the article of relevance and interest. I did. Peace.
to know how gross the recent statement by Rand Paul about extended unemployment insurance really was. I cannot claim to be that person, although there were brief times where I did not know how I would pay for my next meal. But my rent was paid, I had a job, and I knew I would get through. Charles M. Blow has experienced poverty, and that is part of the context in which his writes for tomorrow's New York Times in piece titled The Appalling Stance of Rand Paul, which I highly recommend. Let's be clear that Paul is not alone in his attitude towards aspects of the social safety net. Of greater i
DEC 10
Snowden Strikes Again - another breaking story
according to The Switch blog at The Washington Post, in a story just emailed as breaking news, NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking. The story is co-authored by Barton Gellman, who is on contract with the Post and has previously written stories using the material he was given by Snowden. The opening two grafs: The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools th
An interesting African perspective on Mandela
can be found in today's Washington Post in an op ed titled The roots of Mandela’s service. The author, Temba Maqubela is headmaster at Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts. He fought against apartheid, escaped persecution, and, in 1986, came to the United States as a political refugee. More importantly, his grandfather actually taught Mandela in University, and his grandmother was one of the fe
Thoughts on teaching on a snow day
Yesterday our schools were on a two-hour delay, which is difficult enough when you are on an alternating day schedule with 90 minute periods and you have the same prep on both A day and B day. But at least I had almost an hour. Being closed today is the equivalent of the one section of AP government that I have on B day losing 2 days of instruction. I have a required assessment that must be giv
DEC 09
Invisible Child
She wakes to the sound of breathing. The smaller children lie tangled beside her, their chests rising and falling under winter coats and wool blankets. A few feet away, their mother and father sleep near the mop bucket they use as a toilet. Two other children share a mattress by the rotting wall where the mice live, opposite the baby, whose crib is warmed by a hair dryer perched on a milk crate. T
DEC 08
Krugman: "The Punishment Cure"
is his well-reasoned takedown of the Republican approach to our current economic situation in this op ed in Monday's New York Times. His first paragraph reminds us of all those about to lose unemployment insurance because of the Republican theories about the economy, which are clearly wrong, but to which they are sticking. After offering the two-word holiday greeting - in the proper form for Sara
David Simon: 'There are now two Americas. My country is a horror show'
David Simon gave an informal speech in Sydney, Australia. The Guardian has an edited text here/ Remember, Simon is the brilliant creator of both "Homicide" and of "The Wire," It begins like this: America is a country that is now utterly divided when it comes to its society, its economy, its politics. There are definitely two Americas. I live in one, on one block in Baltimore th
Light a room with potatoes - really
perhaps even charge your cell phone that way. Don't believe me? Take a look at A Potato Battery Can Light Up a Room For Over a Month from Smithsonian.com How it works - What the potato does is simply help conduct electricity by acting as what’s called a salt-bridge between the the two metals, allowing the electron current to move freely across the wire to create electricity. Numerous fruits ric
DEC 07
Leaves on the Current - another milestone reached
On Monday she returned to her office for the first time in two months - she missed part of that time because of the shutdown and rest related to her autologous stem cell transplant, starting with the preparations. She did not come close to working a full week - she is still rebuilding her stamina. But it is good for her to again feel productive. And of course to again be earning an income, having
Might I suggest reading Charles M. Blow on Nelson Mandela?
His column today is titled A Lesson Before Dying and I am quite sure he is aware of the book of that title. There is little one can add to his words, but allow me to think aloud a bit, but only after offering you his opening three paragraphs: One of the great lights of the world went dark on Thursday. Nelson Mandela left this world, having enormously altered it. And yet, the extraordinary examp
12 Mandela Quotes That Won't Be In the Corporate Media Obituaries
is the title of this piece yesterday at Common Dreams, which has the subtitle "On "sanitizing" the legacy of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela." It begins with a picture of Mandela with an upraised fist, and the quote When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. That is the 12th and final quote in this piece. It i
Please read a column by Jonathan Chait
He wrote it after seeing "Twelve Years a Slave" and in part has convinced me to go see it. But that is not why I am urging you to read 12 Years a Slave and the Obama Era. Perhaps his opening paragraph may help: This last weekend, I finally saw 12 Years a Slave. It was the most powerful movie I’ve ever seen in my life, an event so gripping and terrifying that, when I went to bed ten hour
"His day is done" - Maya Angelou on Nelson Mandela
Offered in case you had not seen. Apologies if a duplicate.
If you claim you are a Christian
and yet seem willing to turn your back upon those in need, might I suggest you seriously consider the following verses from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, which appear immediately after the Parable of the Talents, and which make up the Gospel text for the Sunday of the Last Judgment (consider that title) in the Orthodox Church lectionary: 31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all
Time to rethink the US Military
its size, its structure, its purpose. I think that, but what do I know, since I served briefly in the Marines almost 5 decades ago and am now a Quaker. No, I am sharing the thoughts of Thomas Ricks, longimte Washington Post reporter who has written five books on the US Military and now serves as an adviser on national security at the New America Foundation, where he participates in its “Future of