I have been asked by quite a few people lately about recent media reports on the Texas public school ratings and, in particular, the controversy over the “Texas Projection Measure” and its role in the recent significant improvement in the ratings. To explain this issue as concisely as possible, I can’t improve on the article […]
Archives for August 2010
A New Legacy, If We Can Handle It
David Brooks recently outlined his view of competing visions of economic growth and vitality. He named them the Moon Shot Approach and the Unleash America Approach, the former being of the “industrial policy” persuasion, with government induced and directed enabling of economic development through infrastructure, tax credits, and subsidies, and the latter being more a […]
Are We Serious?
Sometimes the moral ambiguity boggles the mind. It is difficult to believe the relatively casual reception on the part of the public of the recent WikiLeaks attack on the national security of the U. S. This was tantamount to an act of war, folks, and the only people I have noted who are willing to […]
Kagan on the Court
To the surprise of no one, Elena Kagan was easily confirmed by the Senate to replace John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court and, despite her skimpy paper trail and absence of prior court experience, I suspect that she may be more of a catalyst than many expect. Beyond a reliable vote with the liberal […]
More Abdication
Speaking of abdication, is there a better example of it than the continuing abject failure of the federal government to enforce its immigration laws? And the very idea of the President of Mexico standing before a joint session of the U. S. Congress castigating one of our states for attempting to protect its property and […]
Whither Marriage?
Now at least there is a pathway to a resolution to the same-sex marriage issue. With the district court decision overturning California’s Proposition 8 prohibiting such marriages, the stage is set for a process almost certainly leading to the Supreme Court. Again, as I have noted any number of times, the judiciary has decided to […]
The Democrat Education Crack-Up
It has been both amusing and instructive to watch the disintegrating nexus between the Democratic Party and one of its staunchest and most reliable constituencies, the teachers unions, over the reform of public education around the country. When liberal columnist Leonard Pitts can write this–“Enough. It is time teachers embraced accountability. Time parents, students and […]
The Tenth Amendment Campaign
Everywhere one looks there is increasing evidence of considerable pushback from the states and the people to the relentless and overbearing imposition of federal power in all aspects of daily life. This massive federal intervention is threatening our federal system, our solvency, our culture, and our way of life in ways that cannot at this […]