Political Theatre category archive
“Getting Your Goat” 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Kirby Farrell muses about scapegoating as a political and social force. Take a look at his article and consider whether anything he says applies to our political discourse.
I bet you find that it does.
“Off We Go a-Caroling . . . .” 0
John Romano composes new carols for this holiday season.
Likely they will still be timely a year from now.
Hearts Two Sizes Too Small 0
Dan Simpson tries to choose between Grinch One and Grinch Two.
Off the Rails 0
You know things are strange when Lindsey Graham is the “voice of reason.”
Ideological Divide 0
Michael Smerconish is a professed conservative, but a rare one who does not do the Fox(News)-Trot.
In a column posted today, he tries to make sense of the conflict between the what he calls the purists and the pragmatists in the Republican party.
It’s interesting, but also kind of sad, reflecting as it does the contortions of a decent person trying to convince himself that a viable bit of decency remains in his party.
“Book ‘Em, Dano” 0
Dan Casey awards his seventh annual Dano awards for distinguished accomplishments in stupid. Here’s one (emphasis in the original); follow the link for more.
Now in bankruptcy, ANR earlier this month asked a federal court in Richmond to allow it to pay up to $14 million in executive bonuses. At the same time, it proposed eliminating workers’ 401K match, short-term disability benefits, curtailing paid vacation and more.
Here’s how the company justified it: “Successfully navigating Alpha’s restructuring process has been and continues to be the primary focus of our senior management team and maintaining that strong leadership throughout this process is viewed as essential in the eyes of both the board and Alpha’s constituencies.”
For that, they also win the Dano in Corporate Gobbledygook.
Dealing with Uncle Liberty* 0
There is a simple flaw in this presentation: Facts do not override prejudice. For every fact, there is an equal and opposite prejudice.
Via Raw Story.
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*The term “Uncle Liberty” is used courtesy of Driftglass.
Testing the Fail 0
In a longer article at Psychology Today Blogs–indeed, almost as an aside–Alfie Cohn indicts the reliance on standardized testing and its inimical effects on our school systems. A snippet:
(snip)
But the outrageous and incalculably damaging reality of testing students every single year — extraordinary from a worldwide perspective, in fact virtually unheard of for students below high school age — continues in ESSA (“Elementary and Secondary Education Act”–ed.). Annual testing is something we’ve been conditioned to accept and even to view as tolerable compared to the reality of multiple tests a year, what with benchmark exams in between the other exams, districts piling on with their own assessments, new Common Core tests, and so on.
Remember “cramming” for tests? Two weeks after the test, all the stuff you crammed was gone, whereas, had you studied through the semester/quarter/period, you did not have to cram because you had actually learned stuff.
The regime of standardized tests has institutionalized cramming as a pedagogical technique. The test is all; there is nothing else. Learning is irrelevant to the cram.
Qui bono?
The testing companies. Everyone else is losing.
It Wasn’t Supposed To Be a Prophecy 0
Franklin Roosevelt, 1932:
We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Republican candidates, 2015:
