Domestic Policy
Good Will Hinton Interviews Bill Strickland about "Make the Impossible Possible"
by Will Hinton ()
Listen in to my interview with Bill Strickland, CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Manchester Bidwell is an arts and job training organization in inner city Pittsburgh that Bill started in 1968.
Bill has a new book out, Make The Impossible Possible that I highly recommend. In light of my conversation with Andy Crouch earlier this week, I would say that Bill is a leading expert on "culture making". Every city needs a "Bill Strickland" who eschews conventional wisdom and just goes about the business of helping people and treating those who are often ignored with tremendous respect. read more »
When people "carry", it can save lives
by GL ()Thank God Jeanne Assam was there, that she was armed, and that when she heard gunshots she had the courage to run to the murderer and deal with him. How many more would have died if she had not killed him? We'll never know, but surely the death toll would be higher.
U.S. Government on Privacy: "Just Trust Us"
by Will Hinton ()Off the AP wire this morning:
Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguards people's private communications and financial information.
So let me get this straight. We can't expect to have privacy anymore, but that's ok because it is going to be the government and business entrusted with information about us.
Aren't most privacy issues centered around the government checking up on us?
I place the blame squarely on Republicans for making everything about terrorism and being willing to sacrifice anything including our freedom for the sake of the "War On Terrorism". read more »
State lotteries and education
by Joseph Knippenberg ()I’ve long ridden this hobbyhorse and am happy to see the NYT join the good guys, even offering this cool interactive graphic.
For me the bottom line is this: it’s ironic that a program often touted as being good for education relies, first of all, on the economic ignorance of its "core" customer base (quick: what’s the expected value of a dollar "invested" in a lottery ticket, compared with a dollar put in an interest-bearing bank account?) and, second of all, on an attitude (wishfully thinking that one can get something for nothing) that is antithetical to the connection between hard work and self-discipline, on the one side, and reward, on the other that we’d presumably wish to cultivate.
To me, lotteries indicate a failure of political leadership: they’re a so-called "voluntary tax" imposed by legislatures unwilling or unable to make the case for spending more public money on education. read more »
Gay Marriage and the Hypocrisy of the Religious Right
by Will Hinton ()Update: I thought it would be good timing to re-post this.
Yesterday I was listening to a piece on NPR about Fred Thompson's presidential campaign and how he was making sure that Republican audiences knew for sure that he is conservative enough. There was a mention of Thompson being adequately pro-life and adequately anti-gay rights to satisfy social conservatives and especially evangelical Christians.
I find this so troubling. No wonder the average person thinks that Christians are anti-homosexual and hypocritical.
I'm trying to think through how a typical evangelical Christian might view the issue of gay rights/gay marriage. Usually the thought process is through the lens of "family values" and cultural norms; that is, gay marriage will undermine the institution of marriage and is therefore bad for families and our society. read more »
D.C. vouchers again
by Joseph Knippenberg ()I realize that the plural of anecdote is not data, but this article puts a human face on the damage the Democrats will do if they axe the D.C. voucher program, as they show every intention of doing, at the first opportunity. Kinda makes you wonder if they really care about the kids.
What Would Tocqueville Do?
by Joseph Knippenberg ()Michael Gerson summarizes this paper, presented at this conference (other papers here). Here’s Gerson’s conclusion:
This is why an abstinence program, by itself, may not accomplish much. And this is why there are no substitutes for healthy communities, beginning with families, in which young people are embedded.It would be nice if teen sexual behavior could be automatically changed by an abstinence lecture or a sermon. Setting those norms and expectations, however, is a small part of a larger cultural task. Moral men and women need moral communities.
In this context, the right question to ask of any government program is: does it support or "empower" families and "civil society"? Perhaps another way of putting it is: What Would Tocqueville Do? read more »
Underperformers
by Michael Dunaway ()With several former (including myself) and current teachers floating around this space, I'd be interested to hear reactions to this paragraph from Mickey Kaus' blog:
Is "merit pay" for good teachers nearly as important as making it easier to get rid of mediocre teachers? (You want to get hissed, tell that to the NEA.) In the successful organizations I've worked for, the positive incentives (in the form of unequal pay) weren't nearly as powerful as disincentives (in the form of fear that you might get fired if you didn't do your part). For one thing, negative incentives are highly compatible with teamwork. They get the whole organization going, including people who'll never be hot enough to get performance bonuses. They don't breed envy and backstabbing. read more »
The D.C. voucher program and its critics
by Joseph Knippenberg ()This WaPo editorial takes up for the D.C. voucher program against Democratic critics, who are quick to seize on data from this DoE report (executive summary here; press release here). To be sure, the report shows that, after seven months in their new schools, children taking advantage of the vouchers didn't perform significantly better on tests than did those in a control group (voucher lottery losers). These results are in line with other studies that show little effect in the first year of a voucher program. read more »
House Passes Gasoline Gouging Bill and Proves that They Are Ignorant About Economics
by Will Hinton ()Yesterday, the House passed a bill that would make gasoline price gouging a federal offense. How does the House of Representatives, in their infinite wisdom, define gouging?
(1) IN GENERAL- It shall be unlawful for any person to sell crude oil, gasoline, natural gas, or petroleum distillates at a price that--(A) is unconscionably excessive; or
(B) indicates the seller is taking unfair advantage unusual market conditions (whether real or perceived) or the circumstances of an emergency to increase prices unreasonably.
So who defines "unconscionably excessive"? Since when was there anyone in Congress with a full understanding of the economics of gasoline and the entire supply chain to be able to definitively state what the price of gasoline should be?
This is exceeding foolish legislation that ignores the basics laws of economics. The law of supply and demand dictates that prices must rise when demand rises. This is a basic economic fact that isn't open to interpretation.
As a result there is a fairly obvious solution to rising gasoline prices - STOP DRIVING. The great irony here is that while there is much talk about decreasing our dependency upon oil, this bill ensures that we will continue our dependency upon oil. Those clamoring for more hybrid cars and a more "green" energy policy should be calling for higher gas prices if they were honest. A corrollary to the law of supply and demand is that increased prices will create a decrease in demand. Isn't that what we want???
Immigration: Is there any other issue in contemporary politics that's treated this way?
by Michael Dunaway ()Is there any other issue in contemporary politics that's treated this way?
Side A: We've got a major problem here -- millions of people are committing Crime X.
Side B: You're right. Let's start enforcing the laws we already have that make Crime X illegal.
Side A: Don't be ridiculous. What we need to do is exonerate anyone who's ever committed Crime X.
Side B: Um...okay, but can we at least build a wall that will make it harder to commit Crime X in the future? And maybe punish the people that are hiring the people to commit Crime X?
Side A: Oh hell no. But I'll tell you what -- you can create a program that gives people a way to do basically the same thing as Crime X, but legally. And it will only cost $5000! read more »
Greetings.
by Jay Hill ()Hello, all.
My name is Jay; I am an associate of Will's, a student, and a political professional in Washington, DC. I'm looking forward to passing through GWH every so often to participate in the conversation that Will is facilitating here.
Today, I'll just leave you with this gem from Glenn Greenwald:
Two of the three leading Republican candidates for President either embrace or are open to embracing the idea that the President can imprison Americans without any review, based solely on the unchecked decree of the President. And, of course, that is nothing new, since the current Republican President not only believes he has that power but has exercised it against U.S. citizens and legal residents in the U.S. -- including those arrested not on the "battlefield," but on American soil. read more »
Investigative Journalism Report: Illegal Immigrants Taking White Collar American Jobs
by GL ()
The YouTube 'Vote Different' Ad and Freedom of Speech
by Will Hinton ()There has been a tremendous amount of discussion over the YouTube video ad attacking Hilary Clinton. I'm not going to rehash the story nor discuss the issues of who did it and why. More than enough has been said about an ad that actually didn't say anything.
read more »Lights...Camera....Fascism
by Will Hinton ()Here is a great example of citizen advocacy journalism:
Some Fun for the Anti-Part-D Fanatics
by timothy ()This slipped by me last week, but Professor Dan McFadden had some positive things to say about Part D (for its proponents, anyway). I have yet to read his analyses, but plan to now when time permits.
To quote a quote from Greg Mankiw’s blog:
“…but I think it is reasonable to say that the Part D market has performed as well as its partisans hoped, and far better than its detractors expected.” -McFadden read more »
Bush gets religion
by Expat Teacher ()on balanced budgets after 6 years in charge. Remember Vice-President Cheney's statement that "deficits don't matter"? Well, that is out and President Bush is going to shift the burden of balancing the budget to the Democratic Congress.
According to the WaPo: Budget experts and economists from across the political spectrum, including some who worked in the Bush White House, say that Bush is unlikely to offer real concessions toward a balanced budget in the plan he delivers to Congress next month. read more »
Keith Ellison on religion and politics
by Joseph Knippenberg ()I posted this at No Left Turns.
We wait with bated breath for something more than these airy generalities from Keith Ellison, who, as you surely know, is our first Muslim Congressman.
Surely if hard questions can be posed to Mitt Romney and if deep suspicions about theocracy can be raised every time a conservative Christian speaks, we’re entitled to know exactly how Ellison’s faith informs his politics. read more »
Clone Meat? The FDA is Unavailable for Comment
by Dustin Kidd ()According to CNN and other sources, the FDA has now declared that clone meat is safe to eat and they are moving swiftly towards approving the sale and distribution of such meat. Currently the FDA is suggesting that clone meat does not merit any special labeling, not even a label that would announce to consumers that it is clone meat, despite the fact that 64% of Americans say they are uncomfortable with such meat. read more »
Small Is Beatiful
by bjanaszek ()The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has recently published Joseph Pearce's Small Is Still Beautiful, a re-examination of E.F. Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful. Schumacher's book was a call for human-scale, decentralized economies and convivial (to borrow Illich's term) technologies. From the book's website: read more »
