Political Theatre category archive

In which Boo + Hoo = 171,274.

Political twits. Peter Funt comments at the Boston Globe. A nugget:

Anything that serves to curb politicians’ natural tendency toward long-windedness is welcome, but a Twitter debate risks turning complex issues into a parlor game.

Quibble: The parlor game is already here. Colonel Bluster in the Youtube with a misquote.

Three minutes of Mitt, followed by facts.

Gertrude Stein anticipated Mitt: There’s no there there.

Alto, Texas, lays off its police department in a move of true Galtian genius, pushing all enforcement off to the county sheriff, whose officers take at least twice as long to respond because, natch, they have a whole county to patrol:

“We had to do something drastic,” Councilman Jerry Flowers explained to Forbes. “The police department being a non-money-making entity, was the easiest to get rid of while we catch our breath and build up some cash.”

For some strange reason, crime seems to be reaching new alto-tudes.

In the Randian paradise, there is no such thing as the public good.

If it doesn’t make a profit, it should not exist.

Michael Smerconish (who is often on target when he’s considering the human condition and not actually taking positions on political issues) reviews the problems Republicans have with campaign songs, namely, their tendency to use songs whose songwriters promptly tell them to stop using the songs because the songwriter’s find the Republicans’ positions pernicious and because the candidates failed to get permission to use them.

He proposes that this problem could be avoided by having a neutral third party (i. e., Smerconish) select their songs for them and suggests appropriate ditties for Mr. Obama and the Republican field. A sampling:

Mitt Romney: The GOP front-runner has a tough choice. Given his various positions on abortion and gay rights, he can go with either Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” or David Bowie’s “Changes.”

Sarah Palin: C’mon, let’s face it. The race will get interesting when she dukes it out with Michele Bachmann. So put the needle down on Ted Nugent’s “Cat Scratch Fever.”

It’s a cute little column.

TSA Power Grab Division.

This is silly and scary at the same time. It is eerily not inconceivable that the same reasoning could lead to everyone’s being required to carry GPS devices at all times to report their positions to the TSA, because God forbid that TSA doesn’t know where you are.

Not then.

Now.

This summer, it doesn’t take much for the wind to kick up sand in western Kansas.

A 10 to 15 mph wind will cause the horizon to dim; at 30 to 40 mph, it darkens the sky and visibility is less than a 100 feet.

Much of Morton County is in an exceptional drought, the driest rating, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Already it is drier than the driest years of the Dust Bowl.

Since last September — 10 months ago — Morton County near Elkhart has received 2.99 inches of moisture. The normal average rainfall for that corner of Kansas is about 19 inches.

The Kansas agricultural economy is withering, like the heat.

No doubt laying off more teachers will bring rain.

After all, that seems to be the magical mystical solution these days.

Dan Rodick of the Baltimore Sun has a modest proposal. A snippet:

. . . if, indeed, you’d like to see them (undocumented immigrants–ed.) all deported — then you should not buy the apples and peaches they pick. Stay away from the fresh produce unless it comes with a stamp: “This cucumber picked by an American citizen.” Stay away from apple juice and apple sauce, the canned fruit cocktail that contains the fruit that illegals pick. You should avoid buying and eating vegetables, too, unless they’re locally grown and picked by naturalized or native citizens. (And stay away from Big Macs, with that lettuce, onions and pickles.)

Via Bob Cesca.

Bill Maher on choosing the right experts:

New Rule: Stop asking Miss USA contestants if they believe in evolution. It’s not their field. It’s like asking Stephen Hawking if he believes in hair scrunchies. Here’s what they know about: spray tans, fake boobs and baton twirling. Here’s what they don’t know about: everything else. If I cared about the uninformed opinions of some ditsy beauty queen, I’d join the Tea Party.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

Must see.

All seriousness aside, wingnut “history” is dangerous.

Persons who do not understand–indeed, who intentionally misinterpret–the past have no hope of dealing with the present nor of preparing for the future.

Via The Richmonder.

Must listen.

Via Hanlon.

As a follow-up to this post, here’s a pointer to Monday’s Radio Times, which spent an hour discussing the Stanford report on charter schools. From the website:

Since 1997 when Pennsylvania first authorized the establishment of charter schools, over 70,000 students in grades K-12 have enrolled in one of 135 “bricks and mortar” charter schools and a dozen cyber charter schools state-wide . In Philadelphia, one out of four students attends a charter school and the numbers are growing. Charter schools are created by parents, teachers, community leaders, and education management organizations. And while they have become a centerpiece in the school choice movement their very existence is the source of considerable debate. A new study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes reports mixed results when it comes to student learning. Have Pennsylvania’s charter schools fulfilled their promise? Our guests include the report’s author DEV DAVIS , ROBERT FAYFICH of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, and education researcher GARY MIRON of Western Michigan University.

Here’s a bit from the comments of Gary Miron at the 22 minute mark:

It’s time to revisit the original goals of the charter school reform. I’m one of those who argues that the charter school idea is a very good idea. Unfortunately what we are seeing implemented today and the growth of charter schools today being fueled by for-profit companies, is a very different reform and I’ve suggested that we use a different term for it. Let’s call this “corporate schools,” let’s call them “franchise schools.”

The charter school idea is a good idea but unfortunately we are not pursing that idea right now. We’re pursuing something different in the name of charter schools.

Follow the link to listen or listen here (mp3).

H/T to Cassandra M for tipping me about the episode.

Via TPM.

Steve M. explains why right wing zombie lies never die:

Mainstream journalists are never going to put heat on right-wing politicians for spouting policy nonsense because (a) they think it’s their job not to take sides, even in a contest between truth and lies; (b) they, as refs, are effectively worked by the liberal-baiting right, which increases their timidity; and (c) the right regularly floods the zone with untruths, sophistry, and superstition produced by seemingly “respectable” people, so the only way for non-right-wing journalists to seem objective is to run every story as they-said/they-said.