cassandra_m
"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas." -Shirley Chisholm
cassandra_m's Latest Posts
President Obama is Angry About the Gun Bill
President Obama spoke some hours back on the failure of the gun bill to pass the Senate. He’s clearly angry and he’s quite right that this is a shameful moment for a Government that is supposed to represent us. If you haven’t seen his remarks, this is the video from TPM (they seem edited, to me):
Wednesday Open Thread [4.17.13]
Unusual Hillary Speculation — Could Hillary Clinton Be America’s Thatcher? This is from Margaret Carlson and this piece is something of a mess — largely faulting Hillary for being married to Bill Clinton. Both Hillary and Bill have more than their fair share of issues, but Hillary does have accomplishments, not the least of which is making sure that she was pulling other women up the ladder with her and fighting for women’s issues around the world. Thatcher cared not one whit about other women or the rights or well-being of anyone else, for that matter.
Tuesday Open Thread [4.16.13]
![Tuesday Open Thread [4.16.13]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/04/regional.png "Tuesday Open Thread [4.16.13]")
The news is focused on the Boston Marathon bombing, and for so much ink being spilled, there is precious little new information. So 2 bombs, 3 people dead, more than 150 sent to the hospital with injuries. There’s no one in custody yet, law enforcement of all kinds are at the scene and working to ID the bomber and apparently they are getting tons of tips. And right on cue, the right wingnuts are spinning up their conspiracy theories — this one claiming that the bombing is meant to frame the tea party and expand the TSA. Just so you can be certain that there is a national tragedy, the Westboro RatBastards have already pledged to picket funerals from this.
Tax Day Reading
It’s the obligatory Tax Day thread — but while I’m going to post some items related to paying taxes, I also want to note that today is Jackie Robinson Day, which is a happier thing to consider than Tax Day. I hope that all of you are done with that task. Delaware and Wilmington taxes are due by the 30th, so there is some breathing room.
Late Night Video — Jon Stewart Tackles Guess Who’s Coming to Howard
As usual, he nails it. Especially the collective ignoring of the last 50 years of GOP history. Especially choise that he found articles from the 70s when the GOP explicitly wrote off the Black vote, wanting the VRA to stay alive, because that would drive more southern whites to the GOP.
The Whitesplaining Rand Paul
So Rand Paul went to Howard University yesterday to speak to the student body in what was billed as an outreach to minority and young voters. The GOP has gotten alot of press since November making it very plain that the structural problem with their party is its lack of appeal to minority and young voters. Rand Paul apparently sees himself as helping to fix this problem — first by actually going to the audience the GOP needs to start engaging, and then relying on the media to brand this as a libertarian outreach. The latter is important because it makes Paul look like a leader in a rebranding effort — making the GOP more libertarian — while still pursuing the same GOP goals on behalf of corporations and rich people. And trying to call those goals “freedom” and “opportunity”.
Wednesday Open Thread [4.10.13]
So this is a thing — opting out of the high-stakes standardized tests that are destabilizing teaching and politics. I knew that there were parents working at ending it in some places, but did not know that opting out was it’s own movement. This is from Philly:
Anglin is one of the first, small batch of Philadelphia parents to join a national “opt-out” movement – a grass-roots rebellion against the outsized role that standardized tests like the PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) play in the day-to-day classroom experience, in the closure of urban schools rated as “failing,” and in stressing out both students and their teachers, whose careers may soon ride on the results.
QOTD — A Modest Proposal on Legislator Pay
I saw this proposal on Facebook the other night and — frankly — this makes sense to me. If we are focused like a laser beam on compensating teachers for effectiveness (and for effectiveness over factors they can’t always control), why not compensate legislators the same way? What do you think?
Hillary Makes a Speech On the Unfinished Business of the 21st Century
It’s Hillary Clinton Day here at DL! Last Friday, Hillary Clinton took the stage at the Women in the World Summit in New York to make the case for women’s rights. Global women’s rights. (Am I the only one who really would have liked to have gone to this event?) Calling women’s rights the unfinished business of the century, she reminds us of how much women contribute to their places and how much even first world places like the US still have to go to achieve real equality.
The Daily Beast was apparently a sponsor of this event, and there is plenty of coverage there. This speech (and another upcoming this Tuesday, I believe) are why there is such a big slug of Hillary news and speculation over the last few days. She didn’t really touch on her future plans, except to say,“I look forward to being your partner in all the days and years ahead.” You can see the entire speech (approx 33 minutes, including Tina Brown intro) below.
Late Night Video — The Facebook Home Leaked Promo
Hey Pandora — you are welcome! This bit of funny business is about 3 minutes long.
Conspiracy Theory Poll Report
PPP did their weekly national poll this week on Conspiracy Theories. This is sometimes cringe-worthy, but pretty hysterical. Take a look at the state of mind of Americans:
Developers Running the Show in NCCo
Sunday’s NJ featured a fantastic piece of reporting by Adam Taylor and Maureen Milford. Called Influence, Access Taint Land-Use Decisions, this is a remarkably detailed look at how the NCCo land use planning process — from both the county and the DelDOT side was apparently captured by the developers, their lawyers and their lobbyists. Not only that, but Pam Scott’s showy leaving of Saul Ewing was just for show. So not only is the land planning process broken, but so is the Ethics Policy in the county.
Easter Open Thread [3.31.13]
Happy Easter, everyone! Have you gotten to the part of the day where you and yours are creating new tortures for those horrifying Peeps?
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