Dishonest Self-Promotion And Rhee: Great Charlatans Of So-Called Education Reform

The new hero of "education reform," which is code for teacher-bashing and educational privitization, Michelle Rhee, is a liar and a fraud whose reputation is at least partly founded on deceit.

See here and here. Also, The Daily Howler (on the links page) has covered this issue extensively.

I am so fucking OVER this teacher-bashing shit.

Rolling Stone Readers Are Lame

R.S. did a poll on the top bassists. They did not limit it to rock, so Victor Wooten and Jaco Pastorius made the list. However, the order is somewhat confounding.

Top 10 Bassists (according to Rolling Stone readers).

You Don't Know Gene

I know it is lame to spell out jokes, but in case you haven't heard of "You Don't Know Jack" that title will be lost on you. That said, take a gander at this mess. Things are getting better, but that's not saying much, given how profoundly ignorant a people we 'Merikins iz.

Photo Caption Fun

Photos here.

Please put the number and the caption, like this:

#24 - Ass-crack gnome!

(A)Historical Tidbit Of The Day

The First Amendment doesn't apply to Muslims cuz there weren't none in America when Jesus wrote it.

An Open Letter to Glen Beck from a non-Orthodox Jew

Interesting survey of the types of Judaism.

An Open Letter to Glen Beck from a non-Orthodox Jew

Wisconsin: Much Worse Than You Think

Naomi Klein spells it out for us. Her book, "The Shock Doctrine" is must-read stuff.


Naomi Klein: Wisconsin 'An Assault On Democracy,' A 'Corporate Coup D'etat' | Crooks and Liars

This Is Why I'm Not Working Right Now

The system IS down.

Chopin's Raindrops Prelude, Op 25, no 15

Exactly how I feel right now.

Monday Morning America-Hating Liberal Propaganda

Amount spent on Tomahwak missiles launched at Libya: $93 million (the missiles alone). Amount spent on NPR last year: $60 million. Keeping America ignorant while blowing up brown people: priceless.

This country's priorities are so fucked up it is beyond belief.

Weiner Joke

Forget for a moment the irony (?) of a man named "Weiner" mocking anyone or anything, and enjoy some classic political theater. I freely concede that I like this only because I agree with it, and would mock this ruthlessly if a Republican did the exact same thing. That said, he's right, in essence.

I.R.S. - Investgating Reproductive Situations?

[via Balloon Juice]

Nice one here from House Republicans. They want the I.R.S. to investigate abortions, to ensure no Federal tax money goes to pay for them. Freedom, liberty, and small government!

Principled supporters of limited government

More Lazy Blogging

Things are a bit rough right now, so I'm not up for original thought. So, read this from The Daily Howler:


Ron Schiller and Dr. King: Should NPR have fired Ron Schiller? We have no real idea.
In a highly tribalized political culture, any publicly-funded news service will likely find itself under attack. Such news orgs will often respond in politicized ways. In this instance, the situation has been clouded by NPR’s nuanced discussion of Schiller’s remarks. Execs have denounced the things Schiller said, without specifying which of his comments they mean.

I've Sunk To A New Low Already

The cheapest, laziest thing a blogger can do is just re-post another blogger's work. But this is perfect as-is:

[via YOU ARE DUMB]

Memo to Wisconsin: YOU ARE NOW VERY, VERY IMPORTANT.
Add that to the list of shit I never thought I'd say about Wisconsin. But the last couple of days have made it clear - what's happening in Madison right now is that the hardcore right has just kicked sand in the face of the left. How the left responds to this, and how effectively it responds to this, will determine to a large extent exactly how abusive right-left relations will be in the coming years.

Not Terrorism

It isn't terrorism when white people do it.

Open Thread: Homegrown Terrorism

And this.

Review: 127 Hours

In 2003, mountaineer Aron Ralston was canoyoneering in Utah when a boulder pinned his arm against a canyon wall. After 127 hours of battling dehydration, starvation, and the elements, Ralston resorts to amputating his arm with a small knife from a cheap multitool. Based on his autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) has adapted the dramatic story with James Franco portraying Ralston into the aptly titled film 127 Hours.

QOTD

From You Are Dumb:

"When a heartbeat of a baby is detected, that baby will be protected from abortion. It's really as simple as that. As technology improves in medicine, as it continually does, that protection will move closer and closer to conception, which is I think for many of us what our ultimate goal of protecting life is. - Ohio state Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, explaining the purpose of Ohio's new Heartbeat Bill, in support of which a fetal heartbeat will be used as "testimony" in hearings soon.
If Ohio passes the Heartbeat Bill, I think we should use it as precedent to establish similar legislation affecting other areas of life. I think that whenever Lynn Wachtmann pulls up to a McDonald's drive-thru, she can't place her order until the staff play her a recording of a cow's heartbeat over the speaker, then makes her sit in the parking lot for 24 hours to make sure she really, really wants that burger.

Chris Dodd: Liar (Part One Of WINAD)

[via Balloon Juice]

Dodd promised that he wouldn't become a lobbyist after he left the Senate. Did he keep his word? Not so much. 

Senators might just be the biggest bunch of scumbags in America.

By the way, "WINAD" is short for "Why I'm Not A Democrat."

George Will: Insane In The Train [Updated Once]

[Update: Better blogs than this one have chimed in.]
Conservative columnist George Will has stumbled upon the newest nefarious liberal plot to run your life and strip you of your freedom: trains. No, really. Check it out.

High Speed to Insolvency

This embodies a new pet peeve of mine. At the Federal level, insolvency is a non-issue. So, he's managed to be wrong, or at best misleading, before the essay has even begun.

Why liberals love trains.

Liberals love trains because we all have a secret gay crush on Thomas the Tank Engine. Betcha even George didn't realize this is part of the homosexual agenda.

Generations hence,

Two words in, and I already want to punch him in the throat. "Hence?"

David Brooks Get Hammered

[ via Balloon Juice]
No, sadly, I don't mean really drunk. I mean his asinine drivel in the New York Times gets beaten, hard, by Tom Scocca at Slate. Read this, and see if you don't feel an "OH, snap!" or two come on.

Fail Compilation February 2011

Myth Busting: The Good Old Days

The spin and lie machine that is employed to keep you ignorant and complacent would have you believe that  this country had an economic "Golden Age" in the 1950s, and that the last 40 years have seen the decline of economic growth. The machine will tell you any number of lies about why that is, such as the social unrest of the 60s, the Unions, and a long list of inevitabilities that you cannot do anything about, so just relax and take it. Not so. The relative stagnation of the bottom 90% of income earners is no accident, and it isn't inevitable (except to the extent that we continue to choose to remain ignorant and helpless).

Over at Lawyers, Guns & Money, Paul Campos has this informative post about the facts of economic growth in this country since WWII, and the facts about who has gained from that growth.

I'll give you a hint: It isn't the Teachers' Unions.