January, 2012 archive

PoliticalProf speculates on the political rebirth of Newt the Gingrinch, despite his having enough baggage to keep UPS busy for a week. A snippet:

Then it hit me: Newt Gingrich is the perfect candidate for that set of Republicans who think government should be run like a conservative talk radio program. One should bluster, blow hard, be rude to opponents, shut off debate and generally seek rhetorical dominance at all costs. Governance, in this model, is the act of saying what is “true” and enforcing that “truth” against all challengers. It is the politics of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck: my truth versus your evil.

Details at Kiko’s House.

The Tucson, Arizona, school district has suspended a popular and academically successful program for Mexican American studies in response to the program’s having been specifically targeted by an act of the Arizona legislature. The books that were used in the program have disappeared from classroom shelves.

This seems to be an attempt to deny that, before it was US territory, Arizona was Mexican territory ripped from Mexico during the US’s early foray into imperialism, the Mexican-American War. Persons of Mexican descent have lived in Arizona since long before persons of US descent.

It is almost as if Arizona wishes to deny its history. Calling this a form of cultural “ethnic cleansing” doesn’t seem out of bounds.

Students peacefully protested, and learned that no good deed goes unpunished:

When the marchers reached TUSD headquarters, they were met by several bureaucrats, including administrator, Lupita Garcia, an opponent of the MAS program who oversees the district’s ethnic studies programs. She unabashedly told the students that racism has nothing to do with color and that Mexico is where Mexican studies is taught, not America!

This was, of course, inaccurate: what was suspended by HB 2281 was Mexican American studies, not Mexican studies. When students asked why European studies has not been banned, nor any other area studies discipline, the administrators had no response. And regarding the issue of this being America, apparently this administrator believes that Mexican Americans don’t belong in America (as she presumably meant the United States).

In a development typical of Arizona, the students who walked out on Thursday, protesting the elimination of the district’s Mexican American studies program, have – without a hearing – been directed to perform janitorial duties this Saturday: an amazing message, right out of Newt Gingrich’s playbook (he has been campaigning in the GOP presidential nomination race, proposing the idea that students should be hired as janitors to teach them a work ethic). Apparently, TUSD administrators are paying attention.

Follow the link for more.

Via the Booman Tribune, a barrage of Mitticisms:

No sense of entitlement there, not a jot, not a tittle.

At Psychology Today, Stanton Peele argues that Newt the Gingrinch is ahead of his time:

Did you hear that PT Blog readers? All those titillating posts by Stanley Siegel about casual sex and non-conventional families — Newt Gingrich was living that. No wonder he got to charge so much money to consult because of his ability to peer into the future. Newt is the avatar of the kind of future family-sexual relationships that the rest of us only dream about.

Dr. Dale Archer thinks he’s just following his leader.

Good ruling.

The Supreme Court for the first time ruled on Monday that police use of a GPS device to monitor a suspect’s vehicle was a search and protected by constitutional privacy rights, a test case involving new surveillance technology.

All this means is that the authorities will have to show cause and get warrants.

I’m neither surprised nor offended that the current federal administration was on the other side. One would expect them to side with Justice, Homeland Security, and the Pentagon, not one of whom gives a tinker’s damn about civil liberties.