Teachers’ unions are often portrayed by their opponents as standing in the way of efforts to reform our schools. Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing. In Wisconsin in February of 2011, tens of thousands of protesters descended on the capital, Madison, to protest an extreme union-busting bill aimed at reducing the power of that state’s […]
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President Barack Obama speaks at a town hall meeting at the Computer History Museum on September 26, 2011 in Mountain View, California. President Obama has come out swinging following his recent populist speeches about the deficit and jobs which had Republicans complaining about “class warfare”. Speaking at a fundraiser in San Jose, Obama said voters […]
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That’s what Wall Street trader Alessio Rastani says in this extraordinarily candid interview on the BBC. “This economic crisis is like a cancer,” he tells the host. “If you just wait and wait hoping it is going to go away, just like a cancer it is going to grow and it will be too late.” People are going […]
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“There is great danger it seems to me to arise from the constant habit which prevails where anything is opposed or objected to, of referring without rhyme or reason to the Constitution as a means of preventing its accomplishment, thus creating the general impression that the Constitution is but a barrier to progress instead of […]
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It’s funny how history repeats itself. Conor Williams has an excerpt from Michael Kozin’s The Populist Persuasion up at his blog describing the 1896 elections. The echoes of our own time are glaring: During the presidential campaign, the major parties fought, more pointedly than ever before, to control the symbols and definitions of patriotism. The […]
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The national conversation has shifted to austerity politics and deficit spending in spite of a strong case for stimulus and expanded monetary policy. The popular sentiment is anti-government instead of anti-corporate-greed. Tax hikes on the rich have become almost unthinkable in Washington, and accusations of class warfare have been leveled at anyone who suggests otherwise. […]
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I’ll be blogging about the ‘Golden Age of Music’ a series dedicated to post-Napster-era music and musicians. Elvis Perkins hasn’t come out with anything in a couple of years, but both his albums so far – Ash Wednesday and Elvis Perkins in Dearland – have been fantastic. Ash Wednesday is more of a traditional melodic folk album, […]
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The history of America’s attempt to bring about some semblance of universal healthcare is fraught with controversy and contradiction. Matt Yglesias posts this Kaiser Family Foundation poll on the recent healthcare legislation which shows that the bill’s parts are much more popular than the whole: As Matt points out, “mandate is super-unpopular among Republican voters, […]
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In recent years, the number of people executed in America has plummeted: Crime has fallen dramatically in the same time period. Will Wilkinson points out that modernity has brought about a number of similar moral shifts, and concludes: In the face of such a decisive trend in moral culture, we can say a couple different […]
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This would not mix well with my fear of heights. Inge Morath, Window Washers, 48th Street, New York, 1958 (via) Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Read my Forbes blog here.
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