Featured Stories
More on school tax credit suggestions
December 12, 2008
by David Safier The Citizen ran articles yesterday and today about the public school tax credit. (Here is my explanation about what it is and how to give a donation and get 100% refunded to you when you pay your taxes. Remember, you must make your donation by Dec. 31 to get a credit on
Robin Williams on America’s election – from London
December 12, 2008
Posted By AzBlueMeanie: A friend of mine forwarded this video to me from Francine and asked me to post it. Will do. John Cleese and Robin Williams take to the stage for one night only at the New Wimbledon Theater to mark Prince Charles' 60th Birthday on the comedy program We Are Most Amused –
You mean Obama is planning to put in regulators?
December 12, 2008
by David Safier Here's my nominee for today's best quote in a daily newspaper. The Washington Post has an article about Obama's three top picks for environmental posts. Many environmentalists are happy with the picks, while some think they're a bit too moderate. That tells me they're probably excellent choices. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
On a totally different subject
December 11, 2008
by David Safier Watch the documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?, available on Netflix. Then ask yourself, if GM created a reliable electric car in the 90s with something like a 90 mile range before needing a charge, leased them in California to ecstatic drivers, then took them back from the drivers (who begged to
It’s the teachers, stupid!
December 11, 2008
by David Safier
(TASL)
In remarks at last week’s gathering, Mr. Gates said the foundation had seen success with some of the small high schools it helped create through its emphasis on that school improvement strategy, but that much of that work did not deliver the academic gains the foundation had hoped for.
“To be successful, a redesign requires changing the roles and responsibilities of adults, and changing the school’s culture,” Mr. Gates said. “You can’t dramatically increase college readiness by changing only the size and structure of a school.
So now the Foundation plans to focus more of its energies on "teacher effectiveness." That means trying to identify what makes for effective teaching, but it also means finding ways to "retain and compensate teachers based on their effectiveness, and help ensure that high-quality teachers are place in schools that need them the most."
The Bush Legacy: Epic Failure
December 11, 2008
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Los Angeles Times reported this week that Bush administration officials received a two-page memo entitled "Speech Topper on the Bush Record," the talking points state that Bush "kept the American people safe" after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, lifted the economy after 2001 through tax cuts, curbed AIDS in Africa and maintained "the honor and the dignity of his office." For Bush's staff, upbeat talking points on his tenure – Los Angeles Times
Say what?
"Bush World" is not part of the reality-based world. As an unidentifed White House aid told author Ron Suskind several years ago, "we create our own reality." Bush World is a world of ideological propaganda and talking points regurgitated daily from the Drudge Report, to talk radio, to Faux News, to conservative columnists, newspapers and publications. An entire echo chamber of conservative media has been built to delude Americans – and themselves – into believing that up is down, black is white, and war is peace. It is the nightmarish world of George Orwell's 1984 writ large.
Despite this echo chamber's best efforts to reform the legacy of George W. Bush through revisionist history, reality-based history will remember George W. Bush simply: "Worst. President. Ever." The Bush legacy is one of epic failure.
(The descendants of Presidents James Buchanan and Millard Filmore may now rejoice in finally being relieved of their title.)
Osama Bin Laden in his wildest dreams could not have imagined causing as much destruction to the United States as George W. Bush and his sycophant supporters have succeeded in inflicting upon this country in eight short years.
Bush failed to protect America from foreign attack on 9/11, ignoring repeated intelligence warnings of an impending attack. His response was to shred the Constitution and set the Bill of Rights afire. His war of choice has ground our military into the dust of Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving our preparedness to defeat an enemy Bush has failed to defeat after seven long years still in doubt, and America more vulnerable than ever. Bush enjoyed birthday cake and playing guitar, indifferent to the suffering of his fellow Americans who were dying in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. And for his final act, Bush has succeeded in destroying capitalism and begun our descent into socialism in an attempt to forestall possibly the next Great Depression into his successor's administration. Someone else will have to clean up the disaster that George has made of this country.
No George, history will not be kind to you. History will condemn you, and deservedly so.
Turning kindergartens into sweat shops
December 11, 2008
by David Safier This morning's Star has a letter by Ken and Yetta Goodman, professors emeritus and emeritra who live in Tucson. (I had no idea "emeritus" had a feminine form: "emeritra." I'll add that to my store of who-cares-but-English-teachers word facts, like the singular of "data" is "datum," and the singular of "criteria" is
Karl Reiner: There is a war raging in our backyard
December 10, 2008
By Karl Reiner The production and distribution of illegal drugs is big business. According to estimates compiled by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, American consumers spend about $65 billion per year on illegal drug products. If the illegal drug trade was ranked as an American business, it would be among the nation’s 30
