Shameless cross-promotion

Over at Legion -- which has been prolific and fascinating lately, and should be on your daily reading list -- Garrett and I are discussing the question of teacher quality. I can't promise you'll be interested, but if you're a wonk or you like the below graph it's probably worth heading over.

Also Mel is defending Gov against Social Studies and Jon-Mark Overvold wrote some badass lyrics for Babar the elephant. Hey -- there's finally a Harvard blog that rivals ours for coherence and predictability!

Now this is how you start a Monday morning

It's 10 AM out here in Colorado and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet. So can somebody else please go over to RedIvy, read this, then come back and tell me what the fuck this dude is talking about? I gather it has something to do with Ron Paul, but that's about all I got. And anyone who makes analogies about "savages being given a slice of pie" is surely destined for Internet stardom, so we really ought to get on this...

UPDATE: DID YOU KNOW? "Our tax is a burden to choke on the bromides provided on a platter of charm, radicalism and novelty." NOW YOU KNOW!

Kick-ass

What I learned from RedIvy today: you don't mess with Frances Martel.

And if the angle from which this particular reader criticizes homosexuality [link for context] is religious... I have to question what kind of God this wrathful evangelical deity really is, and why He is so desperate to smite everyone. Does He have nothing better to do, like create beauty in nature or answer the prayers of the faithful? My Christian God (and His Son), the one I talk to and worship every day, who in name and denomination is the same as yours, is kind, loving, forgiving, and understanding. He interprets sin and deprivation as an exclusive choice of the sinner, and not something thrust upon him from above (or below). Gays and lesbians can engage in sinful debauchery in the same way that straight individuals can, and aren’t considered sinners by default more than any of us are. I do not pretend to read the mind of the Lord, but if I am to believe that whole New Testament thing as the true way to lead one’s life(which I do), I cannot believe that God creates some people more sinful than others, or that there are sins that He is not willing to forgive.

...It is highly irritating to me that any mention of [Rachel] Maddow in the media has to come hand-in-hand with her sexuality, as if it were relevant to her occupation. Read any piece about her success and you’ll see what I mean. Those that abuse the stereotype will claim that she is “asking for it” with her short hair and, uh, eloquence, and all those “masculine” features like “snark” and “education”. Never mind that she rarely engages in discussion of gay and lesbian issues on MSNBC- she’ll talk about them when they’re relevant (she does have an extensive history in gay rights advocacy), but the scope of her political lens is much broader. She was “asking for it,” just for leaving the kitchen and not bowing down to the Valley Girl-esque image of the socially traditional newsgirl. Taking issue with her political beliefs (I myself disagree with her on almost every single point) is completely fair and, I believe, warranted. She’s practically wrong about everything, and it’s her choice to be so. Taking issue with her sexuality- which is neither here nor there in the political world- is disrespectful and uncalled for.

It’s almost as if the more envious elements of the media want to chalk up her success to her sexuality and not her talent, as if she is a product of this new socialist “Affirmative Action” thing and not a respectable pundit. And envy is always a thing to be mocked, traditional or otherwise.

FRANCES MAD. FRANCES SMASH.

...As much as I despise libertarianism -- and boy, do I ever -- I have to admit that the Internet, and the Republican Party, would be better if they had more people like Frances Martel in them. At least, they'd be more entertaining.

On the Spitzer resignation--

--what Katie said.

(Oh, you didn't know Cambridge Common was back? Well, Cambridge Common is back, in a fancy new house. Here also is an important post about political and practical issues in recovering New Orleans, and here are the parts of an illuminating argument two CC'ers had with Garrett about minority rights, universalism, and the QRAC controversy. Go read!)