September 2002

Molly knows Texas and when

ArchPundit September 20, 2002 No Comments

Molly knows Texas and when she sticks to what she knows, she writes a great column. If only one could have been a fly on the wall for this:

Carr had known Bill Clinton since he was a baby alligator, come to Texas in ’72 to run McGovern’s campaign. She later worked her tail off for him. A main thing about Billie was, she didn’t just work herself, she made everybody else work their asses off, too. When President Clinton got himself into that Monica Lewinsky mess, Billie was pissed off at him as only a woman of a certain age can be about men and their stupidity. She defended him against the Republicans , but she was steamed.

Clinton made the mistake of inviting her to the White House in the middle of that deal. Here it is, a big reception line, everyone duded up, all these important folks around, and Billie came though that line, looked the president of the United States in eye and said, low and hard, “You dumb son of a bitch.”

One of the better articles

ArchPundit September 20, 2002 No Comments

One of the better articles on the freedom of speech in academia is written in Slate by Dahlia Lithwick.

The key paragraph is here:

Free speech does not encompass the right to fire, suspend, or riot your way into a universe in which everyone agrees with your views, even if you have legitimate grievances. The courts are well aware of this, but it seems that universities, both here and in Canada, are not. On campus, you may “speak” freely?with fists, chairs, and broken glass?so long as you are a member of an aggrieved minority with delicate sensibilities and a narrative of oppression.

The important part of the article is it addresses the suppression of speech from all angles and it doesn’t equate it strangely with Colorado College’s choice to have a Palestinean speak.

I’ll add one more problem. There is an increasing tendency for colleges to include a counterpoint view at a talk from an controversial figure. This is a horrible precedent to set. Alternative points of view should be invited on a regular basis and not because of some concern that someone can’t speak at a given time. The notion that students aren’t smart enough to see different points of view when they listen to them is condescending and silly.

Eat this Greg Easterbrook. The

ArchPundit September 20, 2002 No Comments

Eat this Greg Easterbrook. The administration is that bad on the environment. For those not familiar with Easterbrook’s argument concerning the Bush administration, he made some good points on the initial criticism of the administration. Anyone paying attention knew they would pull this crap later on when fewer people were paying attention.

I actually greatly enjoy Easterbrook’s work–I just disagree on this issue.

By Wayne Allard’s standards I’m

ArchPundit September 20, 2002 No Comments

By Wayne Allard’s standards I’m a trusted pal of Dick Cheney and the RNC which amusingly sends me membership cards on occasion.

A very real problem with

ArchPundit September 20, 2002 No Comments

A very real problem with limiting citizen suits is explored by Rich Miller. The Illinois Supreme Court has stopped a citizen suit to recover state money spent on G-Ry’s election campaign. This is especially relevant since Daniels will be indicted probably after the election for similar use of state funds and Madigan is under investigation.

The more important point is, citizen suits are a check on government. Federal suits have limited standing, as this case essentially echos, but limiting the ability to sue limits checks on the powerful. This is exactly the principle that Bush is trying to subvert in both forest fire reduction and transportation projects. Democracy is often slow, but that is okay—the process is the point in democracy.

Via Tapped the administration is

ArchPundit September 19, 2002 No Comments

Via Tapped the administration is trying to reduce time for environmental reviews. EDF is challenging them and saying that projects aren’t significantly delayed by environmental review. Maybe the administration would like to provide another like they tried with fire reduction.

TNR has posted its McBride

ArchPundit September 19, 2002 No Comments

TNR has posted its McBride story.

Kinsley does a fine analysis

ArchPundit September 19, 2002 No Comments

Kinsley does a fine analysis of the “it’s just evil.”

More on Bob Greene at

ArchPundit September 19, 2002 No Comments

More on Bob Greene at Chicago Magazine. I think he covers the issues very well and much better than the weird posts by Kaus.

Additionally, in the move on category he offers up Steve Johnson as a potential candidate. I like the idea and Johnson did some great work on TV and Media. Zorn would be okay, but frankly his best columns are when he does hard news. He does it to seldom, but when he does he adds an interesting perspective.

Another option, now that Chicago Magazine is a part of the Tribune family—Steve Rhodes.

At the end, Rhodes mentions Neil Steinberg of the Sun Times. The quote is quite funny:
“?I hope that Smarmy Nostalgist isn?t an actual job slot at the Tribune that they have to fill,? he said.”

He adds to that at Salon

His descriptions of Greene’s extracuriculars makes it clear why him and Michael Jordan got along so well.

Rothstein offers an excellent critique

ArchPundit September 19, 2002 No Comments

Rothstein offers an excellent critique of the Leave No Child Behind Act.

You have to make a choice. Either you leave standards to the states and allow them to measure themselves or you institute standards nationwide. If you do it half-way, you create an incentive for low standards.

USA Today lists the number of failing schools by state that have to allow transfers to better schools. This isn’t really true because there isn’t enough room in other schools in the same district. But it sounds nice.

Here is a Rand Report on test scores over time to compare states.

Montana has more failing schools than does Missouri. Controlling for population that looks strange doesn’t it? Of course, it could be that Missouri has better students, right? Wrong, Montana does pretty good on nationally normed test compared to Missouri. So how are there more failing schools? Montana tries harder..

As Rothstein points out, even if you measure the same way, states performance is based on what their goals are. Arkansas has 0 failing schools? ROTFL….sure. Louisiana has 24? New Orleans itself should have 24 let alone the whole damn state.

Michigan has 1500? Michigan isn’t at the head of the pack, but it isn’t that bad. It is above average according to the Dept of Ed.

What does this mean for the future of education reform? Given state funding is dependent on this, states have every incentive to lower their standards. So it isn’t going to leave no child behind, it is going to leave every state behind.

One might also notice that Vermont and Iowa do better than the national average. Dean is pointing this out and how much it is going to cost states that have been effective in education in the past. It is a critical point.

A hell of an education president.