Comments on DISSENTING JUSTICE: New Partisan Theatrics on the Left: GOP Supports t...

And was it those liberals that were saying to elim...

2009-04-29T02:22:00.000-04:00

And was it those liberals that were saying to eliminate $19.5 billion from education construction and $1 billion from Head Start programs? Seems it was those serious Blue Dogs and the we'll-compromise-as-long-as-it's-going-our-way Republicans who did their best to strip this out of the stimulus bill. Does it belong elsewhere? Perhaps, regular spending bills. But oops, Republicans and Blue Dogs will demand their 60 vote obeisance.

Is this type of money what we really need for education? Don't really know, I'm completely bored with the math-and-science pablum, as if inner city kids just need better reading and voila, an Einstein will be born. Daily Howler does a good job discussing education and the pathetic media treatment. Cool sounding programs are praised even if they show no results, steady hard work is laughed at. Yeah, I'd appreciate a more serious look at education, which may or may not be trying something different, it could just be trying to roll back some of the myths. How do you tell a kid that's already 3 years behind in reading to "just try harder or else" and expect that will have some effect?

The Republicans also voted against volcano monitoring, they were oh so serious. Eye on the ball, only stimulus items should make it in the bill, except for loads of tax cuts that won't come into effect near soon enough to stimulate. Picking apart earmarks of a few hundred million out of an $800 billion package, getting their faces on TV. Why do you give these people the benefit of the doubt? They're just trying to make Obama look bad, and it's not like I'm an Obama fan. When did they protest any of the excessive spending over the last 8 years? Suddenly they all think they're Paul Revere riding to save the country? I've spent most of my energy lately bitching about the way Detroit is being sidelined to wage war on the unions, our favorite whipping boys. I've been wondering what Obama would do if his grandma had been a line worker at a factory instead of a bank VP.
(Detroit posts over at http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/desidero/ )

Okay, certainly a billion dollars towards vaccines...

2009-04-29T01:49:00.000-04:00

Okay, certainly a billion dollars towards vaccines spent immediately would have done something for stimulating the economy, but no, not my cup of "which tea pots are more effective" tea.

But seeing the "liberals" and "pot" stuff come up in comments irks me - it was Obama's code to say "the dirty fucking hippies that elected me don't mean anything to me". Medical marijuana is not a silly issue, even if it sounds silly. And when he scoffs at that, he's also hinting he'll scoff at torture and other dirty fucking hippie issues. Serious people like Broder have decided what are the the policy positions we should hold, elections be damned.

And the GOP as the party of No is helping. Their major focus is showing they can force the Democrats to cave without 60 votes, doing their virtual filibustering, though that just got a bit harder, and will be harder still once Franken gets in. Perhaps then Congress can think up its own change agenda rather than waiting for Obama.

Hi, Infidel - now that's a very realistic approach...

2009-04-29T01:28:00.000-04:00

Hi, Infidel - now that's a very realistic approach!

Anna Belle -- hi! And thanks! I agree that the "c...

2009-04-29T01:27:00.000-04:00

Anna Belle -- hi! And thanks!

I agree that the "change" generation has focused on some curious items as a sign of progress. This academic year, in response to all of the "change" rhetoric, I actually planned and taught (just finished) a new class called "Law and Social Change." On the last class, I had them read a series of speeches -- by Susan B. Anthony, Fredrick Douglass, Urvashi Vaid, and LBJ. These were "social movement" and "change" movements. Nothing compares today. Nothing.

Hi, Jason. I had a few law review articles to comp...

2009-04-29T01:23:00.000-04:00

Hi, Jason. I had a few law review articles to complete -- which required a series of all-night and all-day writing sessions. I really was unable to blog during the madness.

As for the voucher plan, I was very upset by the decision. In fact, when the decision was first made, I tried to map out a constitutional violation, but decided it was too much of a stretch. The argument was something like this: The payment of tuition is a public benefit. Because the funds were for education, which is an important benefit and a "right" in every state, the students have a property interest in receiving the funds. If the government decides to withdraw funding, it needs to provide "due process' to the students first. Normally, this requires notice and an opporuntity to be heard.

The court precedent in the area I just discussed is very conservative, and it pretty much makes this a weak case. Politically -- I really hope they do something soon. It's a tragedy. I suppose none of the liberal legal operations in the city has sponsored a suit for political reasons.

Vent away. That's basically my frustration with th...

2009-04-29T00:40:00.000-04:00

Vent away. That's basically my frustration with the left for a long time now. So they're telling me they hold my values, but what are they actually doing about anything? Nothing, as far as I can tell, except hyperventilating about Obama's stance on pot. How very telling.

This is just typical of the big-government, nanny-...

2009-04-28T18:11:00.000-04:00

This is just typical of the big-government, nanny-state agenda of the Democrat party, wanting to interfere in the free market in flu infections with their government-funded vaccines based on Godless evolutionary "science". When are we going to hold people responsible for their own behavior? If people insist on breathing around others whom they barely know, and in public places, they need to accept the natural consequences instead of using artificial "protection", at taxpayer expense no less. Once the virus starts replicating, it's a life!

Long time, no hear, Prof. Hutchinson! Glad to see...

2009-04-28T10:20:00.000-04:00

Long time, no hear, Prof. Hutchinson! Glad to see that someone's busy in this economy!

I do so love it when two parties attack each other over meaningless drivel! It means that they're not screwing the rest of us over.

I'm curious after reading your "vent" there at the end: how did you feel about your party's actions in eliminating the D.C. school voucher initiative?

My take is that any action which can improve educational outcomes for low-income children (irregardless of race) should be warmly embraced by "progressives" who never fail to trot out the children for S-CHIP and the like. What bothered me the most about the Democrats actions is that there did not seem to be any evidence to indicate that the program hurt these children (or, to be honest, helped them). They simply didn't like it, so they cut it without a care!