by David Safier (TASL) Here's what we should do right now, while we're in the midst of a financial meltdown, to improve education over the next decade: Raise teacher salaries significantly. Raise salaries even more in underperforming and rural schools. Offer loan forgiveness programs to new teachers — 10%-20% off their college loans for every … Read more
by David Safier Colin Powell was less than one of my favorite people during the Bush administration — the fact is, he drove me crazy — but I never questioned his intelligence or his humanity. I was infuriated that he was weak enough to allow himself to be manipulated by the Bush administration. Over and … Read more
by David Safier From Andrew Sullivan, a brilliant, tends-conservative-but-is-voting-for-Obama journalist and blogger, about blogging: For centuries, writers have experimented with forms that evoke the imperfection of thought, the inconstancy of human affairs, and the chastening passage of time. But as blogging evolves as a literary form, it is generating a new and quintessentially postmodern idiom … Read more
by David Safier You may have read about the McCain rally in Defiance, Ohio, where McCain said Samuel J. Wurzelbacher (I refuse to use the name the McCain camp coined for him, and it amazes me when the media goes along with the campaign slogan spin) was in the house but apparently . . . wasn't. … Read more
by David Safier This isn't about Tucson, or even Arizona. It's about an elementary school in Charleston, South Carolina. But the story, which is initially encouraging, then potentially disheartening, could happen anywhere. Here's the basic story. New principal takes over an elementary school in an impoverished neighborhood. She cares, works long hours, loves the kids, … Read more