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December 29, 2005
Friday, September 02, 2005
Friday's Links
Activism
Hurricane Housing. The other day we linked to the Red Cross, and frankly, giving money to them is still one of the best things you can do to help out with the Hurricane Relief effort. But there are also estimates of up to a million hurricane-related American refugees. So, if you're feeling charitable and want to help out in a different way, consider going to the site above (run by MoveOn.org) and offering your house to some of the refugees.
News
More Informed About NCLB and More Skeptical of Its Strategies. What's that we hear? Could it be the turning of the tide? You know, it's pretty frustrating the that public doesn't seem to investigate the details of policies before voting for leaders that endorse them, but at least they're finally waking up. Maybe they just need to experience abject failure first-hand instead of just listening to pundits. It turns out that "68 percent of the public do not think that a single test provides a fair picture of how well a school is doing, and 80 percent do not think testing students on only English and math provides a fair picture of whether a school needs improvement." How about that? Of course, it's also telling about the country's bias that most people think the nation's schools are in bad shape, but that their own community schools are doing fine.
U.S. Wants Changes In U.N. Agreement. Many opined a few months ago that John Bolton was so ill-suited to be a diplomat that it was mind-boggling that he'd even been nominated. Sure, that's true, but only if your perspective is that a diplomat should be diplomatic. If, however, you want to undermine the U.N., then Bolton's your man! Want to lower aid to other countries, and stop the fight against global warming? Then Bolton's your guy! We're not quite sure why Bush made a recess appointment instead of just inventing a time machine and bringing the world back to the 12th century; It would have been more direct.
Critical Votes Loom For Hill Republicans. You'll have to pardon us for not writing more about Katrina; We figure that you can get that information from many other sources. Additionally, it's important to note what else is going on while Katrina's (deservedly) getting all the press. The fact of the matter is that what goes on in Washington affects the entire country, and the hurricane disaster highlights this perfectly: A more proper allocation of resources and funds, including the National Guard and disaster preparation, would have benefitted New Orleans greatly. So, as the GOP looks to "starve the beast", having driven us into deficit and now using that as an excuse to cut valuable services, we can only wonder what upcoming disasters these cuts will exacerbate. Of course, things like Medicare and student loans don't help out the upper class, and who gives a crap about them?
Editorials
The Moral-Hazard Myth. Malcolm Gladwell is a fantastic author, having written "The Tipping Point" and "blink", two books we highly encourage you to read when you get the chance. (And they're not even political.) But in this editorial in the New Yorker, Gladwell applies his coherent and lucid approach to our health care system, which is the furthest from coherence and lucidity that one can get. How does one justify the existing system? Well, you have to convince yourself that more health care would be a problem. And so, apologists invent the idea of "moral hazard", claiming that greater health care coverage would lead to people abusing the system and taking more resources than they really need. There's just one problem with that: It's false. Need more proof? Look at our disasterous system in place today. It's time the moral hazard myth was eliminated, and our system was fixed.
Government Success Stories. To continue on a theme, part of the reason that GOP believes that it can eliminate important social services and perpetuate our failed health care system is because the public doesn't trust the government. Part of the reason is because the notion of government as entirely inefficient, ineffective, and wasteful has sunk into our collective conscience. But Mark Shields reminds us that it doesn't have to be that way. There are plenty of stories of effective government, and cases in which the government united to work for the people in ways that individuals never could. He reminds us of Teddy Roosevelt's quote: "The government is us; we are the government, you and I." It doesn't feel like it these days, but maybe we can make it so once again, and give government a chance to serve us like it's supposed to.
Blogger Commentary
Don't Tie My Hands While I Torture You. We haven't visited with out good friend Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recently. What's he up to? Well, precisely what you'd expect him to be up to: Attempting to remove our civil liberties in the name of keeping us safer. We already know he's fond of torture in the name of "keeping us safe", so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he's pretty much willing to use "fighting terror" as an excuse for increasing his power as much as possible. Of course he's in favor of a version of the PATRIOT Act renewal that restricts government less. Arthur Silber discusses the endless spiral that this kind of logic leads to: Government fails to prevent catastrophe. Government asks for more powers. More powers fail to prevent further catastrophe. Government asks for yet more powers. And on, and on, and on. Maybe one day we'll learn, and stop giving our government power it doesn't need. In fact, we'd settle for simply holding it accountable for wielding the power it already has...
Planning, Response Are Faulted. Of course, we weren't going to just ignore the hurricane situation. The above link isn't "Blogger Commentary", but nicely summarizes the situation that some bloggers are commenting on below. Before we proceed, we'd like to mention that there's a fine line between exploiting a disaster for political gain and pointing out failures in responsiveness so they can be fixed in the future. And while people may think that this isn't the time for blame, the fact is that the response still isn't adequate. That message has to get through. It's not just Republicans that are falling short - it seems the entire system failed the people of New Orleans this time. But the federal government has been particularly inept in responding to Katrina: Even Republicans are turning on them. But the media's still spinning. The next time you hear stories of "looting", keep these images in mind. What's sad is that already, politicians are looking to cover their asses. Maybe the situation couldn't have been avoided, but it could be a whole lot better than it is now. Our leaders need to start leading.
|
December 29, 2005
Friday, September 02, 2005
Friday's Links
Activism
Hurricane Housing. The other day we linked to the Red Cross, and frankly, giving money to them is still one of the best things you can do to help out with the Hurricane Relief effort. But there are also estimates of up to a million hurricane-related American refugees. So, if you're feeling charitable and want to help out in a different way, consider going to the site above (run by MoveOn.org) and offering your house to some of the refugees.
News
More Informed About NCLB and More Skeptical of Its Strategies. What's that we hear? Could it be the turning of the tide? You know, it's pretty frustrating the that public doesn't seem to investigate the details of policies before voting for leaders that endorse them, but at least they're finally waking up. Maybe they just need to experience abject failure first-hand instead of just listening to pundits. It turns out that "68 percent of the public do not think that a single test provides a fair picture of how well a school is doing, and 80 percent do not think testing students on only English and math provides a fair picture of whether a school needs improvement." How about that? Of course, it's also telling about the country's bias that most people think the nation's schools are in bad shape, but that their own community schools are doing fine.
U.S. Wants Changes In U.N. Agreement. Many opined a few months ago that John Bolton was so ill-suited to be a diplomat that it was mind-boggling that he'd even been nominated. Sure, that's true, but only if your perspective is that a diplomat should be diplomatic. If, however, you want to undermine the U.N., then Bolton's your man! Want to lower aid to other countries, and stop the fight against global warming? Then Bolton's your guy! We're not quite sure why Bush made a recess appointment instead of just inventing a time machine and bringing the world back to the 12th century; It would have been more direct.
Critical Votes Loom For Hill Republicans. You'll have to pardon us for not writing more about Katrina; We figure that you can get that information from many other sources. Additionally, it's important to note what else is going on while Katrina's (deservedly) getting all the press. The fact of the matter is that what goes on in Washington affects the entire country, and the hurricane disaster highlights this perfectly: A more proper allocation of resources and funds, including the National Guard and disaster preparation, would have benefitted New Orleans greatly. So, as the GOP looks to "starve the beast", having driven us into deficit and now using that as an excuse to cut valuable services, we can only wonder what upcoming disasters these cuts will exacerbate. Of course, things like Medicare and student loans don't help out the upper class, and who gives a crap about them?
Editorials
The Moral-Hazard Myth. Malcolm Gladwell is a fantastic author, having written "The Tipping Point" and "blink", two books we highly encourage you to read when you get the chance. (And they're not even political.) But in this editorial in the New Yorker, Gladwell applies his coherent and lucid approach to our health care system, which is the furthest from coherence and lucidity that one can get. How does one justify the existing system? Well, you have to convince yourself that more health care would be a problem. And so, apologists invent the idea of "moral hazard", claiming that greater health care coverage would lead to people abusing the system and taking more resources than they really need. There's just one problem with that: It's false. Need more proof? Look at our disasterous system in place today. It's time the moral hazard myth was eliminated, and our system was fixed.
Government Success Stories. To continue on a theme, part of the reason that GOP believes that it can eliminate important social services and perpetuate our failed health care system is because the public doesn't trust the government. Part of the reason is because the notion of government as entirely inefficient, ineffective, and wasteful has sunk into our collective conscience. But Mark Shields reminds us that it doesn't have to be that way. There are plenty of stories of effective government, and cases in which the government united to work for the people in ways that individuals never could. He reminds us of Teddy Roosevelt's quote: "The government is us; we are the government, you and I." It doesn't feel like it these days, but maybe we can make it so once again, and give government a chance to serve us like it's supposed to.
Blogger Commentary
Don't Tie My Hands While I Torture You. We haven't visited with out good friend Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recently. What's he up to? Well, precisely what you'd expect him to be up to: Attempting to remove our civil liberties in the name of keeping us safer. We already know he's fond of torture in the name of "keeping us safe", so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he's pretty much willing to use "fighting terror" as an excuse for increasing his power as much as possible. Of course he's in favor of a version of the PATRIOT Act renewal that restricts government less. Arthur Silber discusses the endless spiral that this kind of logic leads to: Government fails to prevent catastrophe. Government asks for more powers. More powers fail to prevent further catastrophe. Government asks for yet more powers. And on, and on, and on. Maybe one day we'll learn, and stop giving our government power it doesn't need. In fact, we'd settle for simply holding it accountable for wielding the power it already has...
Planning, Response Are Faulted. Of course, we weren't going to just ignore the hurricane situation. The above link isn't "Blogger Commentary", but nicely summarizes the situation that some bloggers are commenting on below. Before we proceed, we'd like to mention that there's a fine line between exploiting a disaster for political gain and pointing out failures in responsiveness so they can be fixed in the future. And while people may think that this isn't the time for blame, the fact is that the response still isn't adequate. That message has to get through. It's not just Republicans that are falling short - it seems the entire system failed the people of New Orleans this time. But the federal government has been particularly inept in responding to Katrina: Even Republicans are turning on them. But the media's still spinning. The next time you hear stories of "looting", keep these images in mind. What's sad is that already, politicians are looking to cover their asses. Maybe the situation couldn't have been avoided, but it could be a whole lot better than it is now. Our leaders need to start leading.
|
December 29, 2005
Hurricane Housing. The other day we linked to the Red Cross, and frankly, giving money to them is still one of the best things you can do to help out with the Hurricane Relief effort. But there are also estimates of up to a million hurricane-related American refugees. So, if you're feeling charitable and want to help out in a different way, consider going to the site above (run by MoveOn.org) and offering your house to some of the refugees.
News
More Informed About NCLB and More Skeptical of Its Strategies. What's that we hear? Could it be the turning of the tide? You know, it's pretty frustrating the that public doesn't seem to investigate the details of policies before voting for leaders that endorse them, but at least they're finally waking up. Maybe they just need to experience abject failure first-hand instead of just listening to pundits. It turns out that "68 percent of the public do not think that a single test provides a fair picture of how well a school is doing, and 80 percent do not think testing students on only English and math provides a fair picture of whether a school needs improvement." How about that? Of course, it's also telling about the country's bias that most people think the nation's schools are in bad shape, but that their own community schools are doing fine.
U.S. Wants Changes In U.N. Agreement. Many opined a few months ago that John Bolton was so ill-suited to be a diplomat that it was mind-boggling that he'd even been nominated. Sure, that's true, but only if your perspective is that a diplomat should be diplomatic. If, however, you want to undermine the U.N., then Bolton's your man! Want to lower aid to other countries, and stop the fight against global warming? Then Bolton's your guy! We're not quite sure why Bush made a recess appointment instead of just inventing a time machine and bringing the world back to the 12th century; It would have been more direct.
Critical Votes Loom For Hill Republicans. You'll have to pardon us for not writing more about Katrina; We figure that you can get that information from many other sources. Additionally, it's important to note what else is going on while Katrina's (deservedly) getting all the press. The fact of the matter is that what goes on in Washington affects the entire country, and the hurricane disaster highlights this perfectly: A more proper allocation of resources and funds, including the National Guard and disaster preparation, would have benefitted New Orleans greatly. So, as the GOP looks to "starve the beast", having driven us into deficit and now using that as an excuse to cut valuable services, we can only wonder what upcoming disasters these cuts will exacerbate. Of course, things like Medicare and student loans don't help out the upper class, and who gives a crap about them?
Editorials
The Moral-Hazard Myth. Malcolm Gladwell is a fantastic author, having written "The Tipping Point" and "blink", two books we highly encourage you to read when you get the chance. (And they're not even political.) But in this editorial in the New Yorker, Gladwell applies his coherent and lucid approach to our health care system, which is the furthest from coherence and lucidity that one can get. How does one justify the existing system? Well, you have to convince yourself that more health care would be a problem. And so, apologists invent the idea of "moral hazard", claiming that greater health care coverage would lead to people abusing the system and taking more resources than they really need. There's just one problem with that: It's false. Need more proof? Look at our disasterous system in place today. It's time the moral hazard myth was eliminated, and our system was fixed.
Government Success Stories. To continue on a theme, part of the reason that GOP believes that it can eliminate important social services and perpetuate our failed health care system is because the public doesn't trust the government. Part of the reason is because the notion of government as entirely inefficient, ineffective, and wasteful has sunk into our collective conscience. But Mark Shields reminds us that it doesn't have to be that way. There are plenty of stories of effective government, and cases in which the government united to work for the people in ways that individuals never could. He reminds us of Teddy Roosevelt's quote: "The government is us; we are the government, you and I." It doesn't feel like it these days, but maybe we can make it so once again, and give government a chance to serve us like it's supposed to.
Blogger Commentary
Don't Tie My Hands While I Torture You. We haven't visited with out good friend Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recently. What's he up to? Well, precisely what you'd expect him to be up to: Attempting to remove our civil liberties in the name of keeping us safer. We already know he's fond of torture in the name of "keeping us safe", so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he's pretty much willing to use "fighting terror" as an excuse for increasing his power as much as possible. Of course he's in favor of a version of the PATRIOT Act renewal that restricts government less. Arthur Silber discusses the endless spiral that this kind of logic leads to: Government fails to prevent catastrophe. Government asks for more powers. More powers fail to prevent further catastrophe. Government asks for yet more powers. And on, and on, and on. Maybe one day we'll learn, and stop giving our government power it doesn't need. In fact, we'd settle for simply holding it accountable for wielding the power it already has...
Planning, Response Are Faulted. Of course, we weren't going to just ignore the hurricane situation. The above link isn't "Blogger Commentary", but nicely summarizes the situation that some bloggers are commenting on below. Before we proceed, we'd like to mention that there's a fine line between exploiting a disaster for political gain and pointing out failures in responsiveness so they can be fixed in the future. And while people may think that this isn't the time for blame, the fact is that the response still isn't adequate. That message has to get through. It's not just Republicans that are falling short - it seems the entire system failed the people of New Orleans this time. But the federal government has been particularly inept in responding to Katrina: Even Republicans are turning on them. But the media's still spinning. The next time you hear stories of "looting", keep these images in mind. What's sad is that already, politicians are looking to cover their asses. Maybe the situation couldn't have been avoided, but it could be a whole lot better than it is now. Our leaders need to start leading.
