Most American school districts are facing serious budget shortfalls as a result of the economic downturn. This means, in many cases, that teachers will be fired. In many districts , teacher contracts are structured in such a way that administrators must terminate teachers in order of seniority. This system goes by the name of “Last … Continue reading
I haven’t been paying very close attention to the protests in Wisconsin, but I do have one reflection that might be relevant. So libertarians argue for a minimum of government intrusion in individual economic life (i.e. individual economic agency, decisionmaking, etc…pick your category). They have plenty of reasons: 1) Natural rights (Ex: Individuals have a … Continue reading
As promised, here’s my most recent (and also my LAST, for the time being) Washington Post column. It’s about how it’s much cheaper to address poverty and humanitarian crises ahead of time…instead of waiting to fight the resulting extremism and violence with firearms. Here’s an excerpt: This isn’t just an exercise in hindsight. It’s also … Continue reading
Just a heads up that this week’s column in the Post will be my last (for now). I won the America’s Next Great Pundit contest, which won me a three-month stint as an op-ed columnist. That’s now finishing, so I’ll be doing most of my writing at the Huffington Post, the Kalamazoo Gazette, Post Partisan, … Continue reading
This is the most complete of the chapters from the book’s draft. As a standalone piece, it assumes a little more knowledge about the school where I taught than I’d like, but in final form this would have been outlined in earlier chapters. Please be warned that there are a few expletives/inappropriate words here. If … Continue reading
This week’s column is up in the Washington Post, and it’s downright socialist. Hide ya kids. I argue that the GOP’s insistence on cutting discretionary spending—but cutting taxes MUCH MORE—is fiscally meaningless. Here’s an excerpt: Put all of these cuts together . . . and you still can’t cover the more than half a trillion … Continue reading
Every once in a while (once every few months or so), Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury goes from funny to downright profound. Last Sunday’s (2/13/11) column was one of those times (I’m fairly certain that I can’t actually post the strip here without stomping on Trudeau’s copyright, but you can see it on his site here). I … Continue reading
I was going to write on the GOP’s proposed cuts to education and national service this week, but Richard Cohen beat me to it. Good news is, he did a bang-up job. Go read the article. Get angry. Get in touch with your member of Congress. Call them one extra time for me (DC doesn’t … Continue reading
I’m thinking a lot (A LOT) about baseball season, which means I’m thinking summer. Maybe it’s because it’s so warm in DC today? Anyway, here’s one of my favorite summer songs… Nothing but memories. I may root for the Tigers, but I love Chicago. My grandparents lived in the Northwest suburbs while I was growing … Continue reading
The way that I had the book diagrammed out when I was writing in 2005-2006, this chapter was sort of a second go at the Introduction. I’m not sure where it fits at the moment, but it could be another standalone chapter also. I get the sense that this could be too much head-heavy rumination … Continue reading
