The Squad is taking two weeks off the podcast circuit. Till then.
Ten most famous Americans: the changing American educational scene
There’s been some hoo-ha in the blogopsphere about a poll asking 2000 high school students to name the ten most famous Americans.
Here was their list:
1. Martin Luther King Jr.: 67%
2. Rosa Parks: 60%
3. Harriet Tubman: 44%
4. Susan B. Anthony: 34%
5.Benjamin Franklin: 29%
6. Amelia Earhart: 25%
7. Oprah Winfrey: 22%
8. Marilyn Monroe: 19%
9. Thomas Edison: 18%
10. Albert Einstein: 16%
The fact that Harriet Tubman (a minor figure at best) and Rosa Parks (an influential and courageous person but hardly one of the giants of history) are way up there is no doubt a reflection of diversity education gone amok. And what’s up with the inclusion of Oprah Winfrey?
But in certain respects the students are merely repeating what they’ve learned—look at some history texts and you might think Harriet Tubman was among the ten most famous Americans, based on the amount of attention paid. Continue reading →
Preach it Ross, preach it!
Ross Douthat has a description of the McCain-bashing pundits that’s not likely to sit well with them. But I think he’s spot on:
With their inflexibility, grudge-holding and eagerness to evict heretics rather than seek converts, too many of conservatism’s leaders sound like the custodians of a dwindling religious denomination or a politically correct English department at a fading liberal-arts college.
Or like yesterday’s Democratic Party. The tribunes of the American right have fallen into the same bad habits that doomed their liberal rivals to years of political failure.
And I would also caution that those conservatives who consider McCain too accommodating to liberal viewpoints and think his Presidency would “destroy America” may be only enhancing his appeal to those voters he needs on his side if he wants to win it all in November: Independents. The appellation “maverick” is just fine with them, thank you very much.
McCain: a choice, not an echo?
Read the speech John McCain made on Thursday to CPAC for yourself, and see what you think. Although he freely admits that he hasn’t always marched to conservative tunes on every issue, he asserts his basic conservatism.
McCain then goes on to wisely emphasize how conservative he is in comparison to his likely opponents, Clinton and Obama, and how high are the stakes:
Often elections in this country are fought within the margins of small differences. This one will not be. We are arguing about hugely consequential things. Continue reading →
Late-night blog visitors
One of the greatest pleasures of having a blog is viewing the sitemeter and noticing the broad geographic scope of the visitors. It’s a graphic demonstration of how the internet reaches around the globe, even with a moderate-sized blog such as this.
It’s particularly apparent late at night, when much of the Western Hemisphere is asleep. If I happen to be awake and think to click on the “countries” bar on my sitemeter, a lovely pie-chart comes up, like this one:
This represents the most recent 100 visitors to my blog in the very wee hours of a certain morning. It’s typical of what I see late at night; just another example of the power of the internet, and how it can unite us in ways hardly dreamt of only a few short years ago.
The army rewrites its operations manual: reinventing the wheel
First we had the new counterinsurgency manual. Now the army has a new operations manual with an emphasis on postwar stabilization. This is referred to as a “newly minted doctrine” and “a major development that draws on the hard-learned lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan.”
But we should go back even further; it’s actually a case of “everything old is new again.” Continue reading →
Here’s the skinny on male models
The NY Times takes note of a disturbing trend towards ultra-thin models.
Why is this news? Well, the models in question are men.
Take a look. We’re not talking slender and trim here; after all, male models have never been known for enormous heft. But a certain amount of muscle, just to let you know the testosterone was flowing, used to be de rigueur.
Now we have these guys:
The designers say it’s just the way it is; they look good in clothes. Obviously, there’s more going on here than that. Continue reading →
Mitt, we hardly knew ya
Mitt Romney has dropped out of the Presidential race.
Whether it’s because he sees there’s no hope and wants to avoid further squabbling in the Republican camp, or whether he still harbors thoughts of a brokered convention in which he emerges victorious, he failed to capture the nomination in the primaries and his campaign is officially over.
My opinion as to why his bid never quite made it is that his greatest problem was personality. People vote for a candidate for many reasons, but among them is a gut reaction to a certain je ne sais quoi. Romney has a slick and almost too-perfect air, as though he were a Hollywood actor cast in the role of President, rather than an actual person—warts and all—seeking the office.
We often respond to one another based on characteristics that are nonverbal and seemingly irrational. Continue reading →
Juno’s heart of tin
I don’t go to the movies that often, but last night I went to see “Juno.”
It seemed a good bet. First of all, it’s a chick flick. And I’m a chick.
Secondly, all the reviews said the same things—funny, touching, smart, witty, sharp. It made many critics’ top ten lists for 2007. According to Rotten Tomatoes, it’s one of the brightest, funniest comedies of the year.
Can’t lose, right?
But within five minutes of the opening credits I suspected I was in deep trouble. Continue reading →
Tuesday was Super
But now it’s Wednesday.
The upshot? Hillary and Obama are still neck and neck, with Hillary a hair ahead. I see Tuesday’s results as a slight check for Obama in that his momentum may have been slowed somewhat.
For me, that’s a good thing, since I prefer Hillary as the Democratic nominee for two reasons: I see her as easier to beat in the general election, and I see her as less loony-Left than Obama in the foreign policy sphere if she happens to become President.
As for the Republican side—Rush, eat your heart out. McCain may have failed to clinch the deal but he’s sure got it nailed down awfully tight. Now the tough work comes: attempting to convince conservative Republicans that he’s not the devil incarnate. Continue reading →
The big issue is still Iraq
Anyone who reads this blog knows I consider the Iraq war one of the biggest issues of the day. Yes, it’s faded in the news, mostly because it’s going relatively well now.
But Vietnam was also going relatively well in the Abrams/Vietnamization “second act” of the war, too—that is, until Congress made sure the South Vietnamese lacked the funds to carry on.
If anyone doubts that both Hillary and Obama are determined to repeat the history of our sad end in Vietnam, please read this. And don’t say it’s just rhetoric; words signify intent, even in politicians.
The Democratic Party—to which, when I last checked, both Hillary and Obama belonged—has been dedicated for quite some time now to pulling out of Iraq, and pronto. Once they have a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President who won’t offer the impediment of a veto, do you really think they’ll change tunes and say “never mind?” Continue reading →
Postmodernist thinking comes of age in Britain
It’s hard to know what to say about the results of this poll except folks, we’re in big trouble.
Then again, maybe they’ve been reading this:
