and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
ALL MEN.
That should have included Brandon Mayfield, but the FBI lied about his fingerprint. For those lies, and more, it cost us $2 milion.
That should have included Steve Hatfield, but Attorney General Ashcroft called him a person of interest. For those words and more, it cost us $4.6 million.
That should have included John Walker Lindh, but we denied his repeated requests for a lawyer, and we stripped him, blindfolded him, bound him, and held him in a shipping container. For that treatment he got 20 years, but it cost us our honesty
That should have included Jose Padila and Yaser Esam Hamdi. Hell, it should have included Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
we hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. . .
Far too much of our educational assessment has been to rely on tests, often limited to multiple choice answer, or at best including some writing expected to be completed in a formulaic fashion (think 5 paragraph essay) in a fixed period of time. But such tests do not necessarily offer us the best way of evaluating what students know and can do.
Performance assessment goes beyond that, and can often be used in conjunction with tests. Think for a moment about the 3 things you must in most states complete before you get a driver's licence. First you must pass a vision test, which ensures at a minimum you have the physical capability to safely operate a motor vehicle. Then you must also pass a test on knowledge of the rules of the road as defined by your state. Pass both of these and you can get a learner's permit, which will allow you to operate a motor vehicle under the supervision of a licensed driver. But you cannot be fully licensed to drive by yourself until you can pass the road test. That road test is an example of performance assessment, one in which you demonstrate the ability to use your vision and apply your knowledge of the rules of the road to safely operate a motor vehicle.
How convenient that the peculiar perspective of the oil-obsessed Bush administration can now be put to use advising the Iraqi government on its contracts with big oil.
The contracts themselves are not huge. They are like the keys on a coveted ring that will begin opening the doors to Iraq’s vast oil reserves. As The Times reported Monday, "At a time of spiraling oil prices, the no-bid contracts, in a country with some of the world’s largest untapped fields and potential for vast profits, are a rare prize to the industry."
A prize, yes. But at what cost?
Bob Herbert asks us that question in his column today, entitled ‘Oh Happy Day’ because he tells us that is what one would here sung in the executive suites of oil companies after the deals they just made in Iraq. The question is what achieving the happy day for the oil companies has cost the rest of us.
I am not online much right now. I am spending 4+ days based at the University of Richmond in a seminar for school teachers on the South in American History. Our leader is Ed Ayers, not only the president of the University, but also a distinguished historian of the Civil War. And today, besides our studies, we also managed to squeeze in visits to Monticello and Chancellorsville as well as dinner in Fredericksburg.
I am not online much, as a result. Oh, I may during a break glance at the top diaries here, or check a couple of news sites. And I will from time to time check my Blackberry for incoming email. But I am not closely following events as they break. And perhaps that gives me some perspective.
And the reason I am taking some time to write this now is because of a somewhat disturbing exchange with someone about whom I care a great deal. It started earlier today with reference to a Washington Post story about voters in Findlay, OH, and how deep-seated the rumors about Obama being a Muslim are. This evening there were further exchanges, including the Washington Post chat on the article. So let me explain if I can.
Rich's op ed today is entitled If Terrorists Rock the Vote in 2008 and focuses on how irrelevant the twin themes previously used by Karl Rove are now, the fear of terrorism and the fear of gays. Obviously his title refers to the former, relevant to discuss now because of Charles Black's comments in Fortune that another terrorist attack would be to McCain's benefit. But would it? Would not it undercut ideas like "fighting them over there means we don't have to fight them here", or "if we leave Iraq the terrorists will follow us home" or "the policies of Bush have kept us safe" or any of that rot? To me that has always been obvious, that another attack would equal failure of the Bush approach, and undercut support for Republicans. Let's look how Rich demolishes this Rovian argument, one of several services he does for us as he serves as the little boy in the fable of the Emperor's new suit of clothes.
I have borrowed my title today from the last line of Bob Herbert's magnificent column on torture, entitled All Too Human. I will explore his column, and also that of Derrick Jackson, entitled Holding Muslims at arm's length. My remarks will also include reflections on FISA, and perhaps references to popular culture and other things as well. This will be a personal reaction, and as such, not thoroughly planned or organized. Consider it a bit of a cri de coeur, an appeal to what Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature." I invite you to read, and to respond as you deem appropriate.
More than a half century of research has documented a powerful association between social and economic disadvantage and low student achievement. Weakening that association is the fundamental challenge facing America's education policymakers.
Too often we attempt to address educational policy in isolation, ignoring the well-document relationship between school performance and socioeconomic status, a relationship that leads to significant gaps even before students start school. And we can note
Despite impressive academic gains registered by some schools serving disadvantaged students, there is no evidence that school improvement strategies by themselves can substantially, consistently, and sustainably close these gaps.
The quotes are from the home page of a new initiative, entitled as is this diary, A Broader, BOLDER Approach to Education. Please keep reading as I tell you a bit about this initiative.
We agree with Jon Henke that "there will always be a place for the amateur blogger who can get good information and write with a unique voice." And we believe that once people get a taste of activist, netroots democracy it will be difficult - if not impossible - to convince them to return to mass media passivity. For candidates, the challenge will be to harness the power of the netroots or lose to those candidates who do. Either way, as the Washington Post concluded following the Yearlykos Kos convention in early August 2007, "Like it or not, the [netroots] appear to be here to stay".
It is Tuesday morning. Part of my routine on this day of the week is to glance at the work of three op ed writers to see what they have to offer. Often this leads to my doing a diary on one of the columns. Today that will and will not happen. It will in the sense that I will, in passing, refer to the work of all three, offering a quote from each. And I will also find it necessary to refer to the work of a fourth, someone who far too often annoys with his obtuseness.
But this morning? I realize that the words penned by others may help me focus my own thinking, but cannot substitute for it, any more than the words I or others may offer here may perform that service for those who choose to read us. And that realization, however obvious it may seem now, is something that has not been part of my consciousness. It has implications, the responsibilities we each have to take the time to reflect, to think, to own our words. And to speak or write the perceptions we think we have reached, not because they are unique or so valuable, but because only in dialog can we hone our understanding and help to heal the nation and the world.
I am not yet done reading it, but find myself wanting to write about it now. And I will tell you more about this book. But now I am about to explode.
How large is your heart? Who is included in it? What is possible? I remember reading somewhere the words of Jerome Bruner that every child was capable of some level of mastery in every subject. My job as a teacher is to help that child connect with the subject and support the child so that the mastery becomes possible. Every child. Just as my job as a human being is two-fold, and here I refer again to the words of George Fox that guide me: that I need to walk gladly across the earth and answer that of God in each person I encounter.
I am writing this for myself. If it benefits anyone else that is a nice addition, but I need to write, to clarify my own thinking. Hopefully as I write what I mean will become clear, at least to me.
I had a conversation today with someone who used to monitor energy issues for the CIA, and has been retired for a number of years. S/he firmly believes that it is quite likely that the Israelis will attack Iran before mid-October. S/he believes that would mean the Iranians at a minimum would close the Straits of Hormuz, and better than even money that there might be severe damage to the Saudi oil fields, which (a) are largely in a Shi'a area of the Peninsula, and (b) are quite vulnerable to being taken out, as Robert Baer, himself a former CIA agent, has pointed out.
Economically, the price of oil would skyrocket, possibly doubling, given the shortages. The US is far less dependent upon the Middle East as a source of oil than are other places (our biggest external source is Canada), but a world-wide shortage would have huge impacts everywhere.
Pali is the language of the earliest collection of the teachings of the Buddha. And one key teaching is that of loving-kindness, for which the word in Pali is metta.
There is a wealth of Buddhist teaching, both from Siddartha in the Sutras ("Sutra" is a Sanskrit word, the Pali equivalent of which is "Sutta") and by various Buddhist teachers, ancient and modern, in traditional lands and in the United States.
While I am not and never have been a Buddhist, nor do I attempt to play one, on television or in electrons, I have to some degree been influenced by Buddhist teaching. I suppose as one who is a Convinced Friend, a Quaker by choice, it is not unusual that I am drawn to and influenced by the teachings of a tradition that also seeks to find non-violent ways of connecting with others.
In the latest list of Emerging Races put out by the DCCC we find the name of Tom Perriello, running in the 5th CD of Virginia against Virgil Goode, Jr. I have written about Tom before, and I think this race has real possibility. Increasingly, so do others, as seen in his inclusion on the list of Emerging Races.
Tom will be liveblogging on the afternoon of the 28th at FireDogLake, although I do not as yet know the exact time.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of CT is sponsoring an event for Tom at her DC home next Monday, for which Sen. Russ Feingold is an honorary co-host. If you think you might be able to attend that, feel free to contact the campaign.
Attached to the emailed invitation were several pages of information, some of which I will take the liberty of sharing in two snips below the fold.
I am a bit of an odd bird. I don't care all that much about people as a collective noun, but am passionate about persons, individually and gathered together.
I don't believe in addressing persons objectively. I don't believe it is truly possible, and even if it were, I think it demeaning. Perhaps this is why I am so opposed to things like No Child Left Behind, where each student - and by extension each teacher and each school - is evaluated by some supposedly independent and thus "objective" standard of measurement. Ask me about my students, all 130+ at the end of the year, and I should be able to tell you about each individually, strengths and weaknesses, how each has improved and grown, and - yes - how in many cases I have not been able to help. I do not want to limit my dealings with each student by how s/he performs on a single measure, no matter how perceptive the instrument used may be.
Perhaps that is why I prefer to at least try to address each person I encounter subjectively, not objectively. And it is that I will attempt to explore in this mental meandering.
As the Federal government has delayed reauthorization of the basic law affecting public schools, the Elementary And Secondary Education Act, the most recent version of which is (unfortunately and inaccurately) as No Child Left Behind, perhaps now might be a good time to explore alternative approaches to public education. Since public education is primarily the responsibility of the states, and since the Federal government provides less than 8% of the cost of public education, perhaps rather than Federally imposed mandates we can explore what states have done to address some of the needs of public education. And if we are willing to go down that path (as I certainly am), perhaps the first state at which we would look would be Minnesota.
The ludicrous idea that votes from Clinton supporters would somehow make up for McCain defectors is merely the latest fairy tale brought to you by those same Washington soothsayers who said Fred Thompson was the man to beat and that young people don’t turn up to vote.
So reads the final paragraph of Frank Rich's column this morning, entitled Angry Clinton Women ♥ McCain?. It is worth reading, full of the cogent observations and pointed prose we have come to expect of Rich. I will leave most of that for you to read on your own. In this diary I want to explore the analysis he makes of the data from the poll itself.
It shouldn't be necessary for the Supreme Court to tell the president that he can't have people taken into custody, spirited to a remote prison camp and held indefinitely, with no legal right to argue that they've been unjustly imprisoned -- not even on grounds of mistaken identity. But the president in question is, sigh, George W. Bush, who has taken a chainsaw to the rule of law with the same manic gusto he displays while clearing brush at his Texas ranch.
So begins today's Washington Postcolumn by Eugene Robinson, whose title I used for this diary. Th imagery of Bush taking a chainsaw to the rule of law so captivated me I wanted to be sure it was seem more broadly.
I will explore the column in this diary, and per my practice offer some commentary of my own.
