Children are our most valuable natural resource.
Herbert Hoover
A New JOTY Nominee
"I think we will be [at passing stricter gun control] if the president exploits [the Newtown massacre], and otherwise we’ll go on to the next” incident. -- Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)First of all, this is a state/local issue, not a federal issue. Second, just because you pass a law doesn't mean it will work. Prisons are full of people who have been found guilty of violating laws, and murder happens even with capital punishment on the books. Third, in this case, the arms in question were stolen from the assailant's law-abiding mother, whom he first killed. Fourth, the real question is why the school's security plan failed.
As Krauthammer reminds us, evil exists. Parents, for instance, could abuse their children behind closed doors. The overwhelming number of parents don't do so.
The lives of the murdered first graders aren't for sale; political exploitation is morally reprehensible. Barack Obama does not have any mandate from one of the weakest reelection victories in American history. he needs to spend his limited political capital wisely.
A Critical Response to Andrea Mitchell:
Comments on the Susan Rice Withdrawal
This blog is not a fan of Mrs. Alan Greenspan. Here are her excerpted comments from an MSNBC show:
ANDREA MITCHELL: A lot of Democrats are saying that the president did not show enough loyalty; they feel that she was not treated with respect, she was not given the support she needed and she was left to twist in the wind. Angry with the White House. That he's backed down in the face of a challenge from the Republican minority, after having won a reelection victory. if you were to deny a promotion to everyone who misspeaks or gets something wrong on Sunday television, including all of us, there would be no one left in Washington. So to blame Susan Rice, whose over at the U.N., mostly in New York City, for Benghazi is really a stretch.Mitchell is putting her own spin in this nonsense. First of all, Obama has backed Rice publicly. Second, what Akin and Murdoch said about rape and abortion was "misspeaking" and it cost them Senate seats. What Rice did was mislead the American people. My understanding is there was a request for help during the attack; the Libyan leadership was arguing it was a terrorist attack while Rice was blaming a Youtube video. In fact, Susan Rice not only was fully briefed--she is one of Obama's most trusted advisers on foreign policy.
Mitchell is not the sharpest knife in the drawer: the Republicans don't care about Rice, but they would welcome an opportunity to talk about the Administration's mishandling of the crisis. The last thing Obama needs to do is to fight an unnecessary war and drain the little political capital he has. Kerry, and there is now a source that says Kerry is Obama's choice, is very well-qualified and easily confirm-able.
Isn't it time we stop playing this progressive nonsense? Three of the last 4 Secretaries of State have been women and the other was a man of color. We've just reelected the most unqualified, unaccomplished President in history. Most Secretaries of State have NOT served as UN ambassadors. Isn't it time to declare victory on the affirmative action front and move on, taking the training wheels off the bike?
My Greatest Hits: December 2012
My top post of the past month has already hit my top 5 all-time since the redesigned blog. Are progressives amused by my explaining why I'll never work for the Koch brothers, or do people just like reading my personal stories? The only one-off to make the countdown has a title which is a bit of a misnomer; true, I initially wanted to rant about the tiresome judgmental reminders about :the reason for the season; in fact, I'm rather sympathetic with their general point. The essay takes off on my experiences of Christmas; how I saw gift-giving in terms of problem solving positively swerving recipients with gifts that fit
- Miscellany: 12/04/12
- Miscellany: 11/14/12
- One of My Pet Peeves: Annual Complaints About Christmas
- Miscellany: 12/07/12
- MIscellany: 11/19/12
“Reading the Great Books had done more for my mind than all the rest of the academic pursuits…it is the best education for the faculty as well as for the students; the use of original texts is an antidote for survey courses and fifth-rate textbooks; and it constitutes by itself, if properly conducted, the backbone of a liberal education.” - Dr. Mortimer J. AdlerI think Britannica no longer publishes its Great Books collection. I have a considerable private library (not unusual for a former academic), but it is a pain moving with literally dozens of boxes of books. (This explains why I never bought the full up to 60-volume set. I have picked up a few odd lot volumes (during my early adult years I used to love treasure hunting in used bookstores).)
Why read/study the Great Books? (I'm a huge fan of this;I only wish I had read some of them in the original Latin or Greek.) Here's a selective excerpt from Shimer, at one time affiliated with the University of Chicago:
The concept of educating people by means of the Great Books was developed nearly a century ago by Professor John Erskine at Columbia University, who believed a Great Books education was the best possible one for people who wanted to understand the basic principles of their culture. (Former University of Chicago President) Hutchins and other advocates of the Great Books held that this form of education was essential to the survival and health of democratic freedoms in a century that had witnessed terrible tyrannies.After more than half a century of practice and refinement, we at Shimer continue to swear by the Great Books approach. This approach cultivates critical thinking. By reading and discussing the Great Books, each student acquires not only key concepts but, more crucially, the thinking that produced those concepts. The Great Books do not teach us what to think, but how to think. The breadth of most of the Great Books is remarkable, which means that the conventional system of specialization does not fit them well. That is why Shimer’s curriculum is divided into broad areas (Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Integrative Studies), and why interdisciplinarity is encouraged throughout the course of study.I got my PhD in an interdisciplinary field and did interdisciplinary research-I have read literally thousands of articles in psychology, technical communication, human factors and education. I was so detailed and anal retentive, I remember one journal editor came back to me and said, "We'll be happy to publish your article but only if you'll cut your 400-odd references in half." (I didn't like picking and choosing sources that got to remain in the bibliography, but I'll do whatever the editor demands to get the journal hit.)
Children's minds are not little xerox copiers. Many schools have replaced the academic rigor I expected for myself and replaced it with intellectual mush, created academic disciplines which are basically progressive ideology, replaced Western civilization courses with multicultural nonsense and confounded individual accomplishment with freeloader concepts.
I haven't been involved in the hiring of college graduates, but I would hire a solid graduate from a Great Books program in a heartbeat over candidates from most colleges or technical institutes. I can train anyone with a good mind; like me, they can easily adapt to changes in technology. There's not much I can do with someone with poor critical thinking skills or limited shelf life technical training.
Musical Interlude: Christmas Retrospective
The Carpenters, Christmas medley (Winter Wonderland, Silver Bells, White Christmas)
