The first essay I wrote in the Public Policy section here looked at the disparity in spending between Philadelphia and the neighboring suburban districts, in order to illustrate the idea that it’s not reasonable to expect a district to be competitive with a fraction of the resource base. Almost six years later, Chris Lehmann at Practical Theory brings up a similar point. Like me, Chris looks at the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Report Card on the Schools series. Unlike me, Chris has the experience of working to launch a new charter school in Philadelphia to provide more specific, vivid examples. So go check out his post. It’s great that Lehmann and his team are committed to doing the fundraising work necessary to make their vision for the Science Leadership Academy thrive. But how much greater would it be if they could put all that energy into actually educating kids?
Public Policy Archive Updated
Posted July 17, 2006 By Dave ThomerThe Public Policy articles from the HTML and phpBB versions of the site have now been brought into the current WordPress edition. For the most part I have not gone through and rechecked all of the links in those pieces, so there are probably some dead links and stuff that’s behind subscription walls right now. But if you want to see what we were talking about from 2000-2004, you can go take a look from the Public Policy link on the sidebar. And if you’re like me, you’ll marvel at how much it seems like the country’s talking about the same things in 2006.
National Journal, Daily Show On Net Neutrality
Posted July 16, 2006 By Dave ThomerThe National Journal has a really good article summing up the context and current state of the debate over net neutrality. The article did a particularly good job of explaining how it was the words of a telecom executive that really set things off, implying that AT&T and other companies wanted to be able to charge content providers like Yahoo to transmit data over the Internet, beyond the normal charges for bandwidth.
And as Jon Stewart points out, when Congress gets involved in this kind of thing, it’s not always pretty.
Sci Fi Friday on a Diet
Posted July 15, 2006 By Dave ThomerSo Sci Fi began its summer season last night. It looks like the network is trying to expand first-run dramas to more nights of the week, and run shows during more of the year, because they’re spacing things out a little. Last year they ran three shows on Friday night, now they’re only running the two Stargate shows. I’m kinda curious as to how that will affect the ratings.
As for the shows themselves – I still have not gotten into Stargate Atlantis, but I was there for the tenth season premiere of Stargate: SG-1. It’s kind of interesting the degree to which they’re resetting the status quo, with Earth the plucky underdog against the overwhelmingly powerful godlike foe. I’m hoping they have enough variations on the theme to make it interesting, but I figure the selling point will remain the cast and main characters. I know I’m hoping Ben Browder has a solid run on the show. I’d hate for the guy to be typecast, but the guy just belongs as the leading man on a sci-fi action show.
Get Me Rewrite
Posted July 14, 2006 By Dave ThomerAnd from the god of comedy setup lines comes this corker of a story:
Terrell Owens claims he was misquoted in his autobiography.
I tell you, the Owens fiasco is one of those things that really reminds you how much a sports fan can rationalize. I remember thinking to myself, “Well, hey, maybe it’ll all work out here.” Turns out, not so much.
I guess I just have to hope that Dallas discovers the same thing, and even sooner than Philly did.
Too Many Shiny Round Things
Posted July 13, 2006 By Dave ThomerIn my effort to re-listen to my entire CD collection, I’m getting down to the discs I haven’t put on in years, discs that I might have only listened to once or twice. I wonder if this is a relic of a different period. Thanks to online services like Rhapsody, I can listen to an entire album before I decide if I want it, so I won’t get fooled by a particularly solid single. (And I can just buy that one song I like if that turns out to be the case.) And if I buy an album or a song electronically and decide I don’t like it so much after all, it doesn’t have to physically stick around and take up space anymore.
Then again, I’m still somewhat attached to having a physical disc that I can bring from place to place if I want. But in a few years we’ll probably just carry our iPods around and stick them in whatever docking stations we have around. The CD tower manufactures must be crying in their beers.
ID to Vote?
Posted July 12, 2006 By Dave ThomerThere’s been a lot of talk lately about requiring photo IDs in order to vote. It’s one of those things that sounds like it’s a good idea, but at the same time made me somewhat nervous for some reason. Spencer Overton at MyDD puts that cause for nervousness into words. In a nutshell, a significant number of people do not have photo IDs. So requiring one creates an additional burden to voting. And there’s no guarantee that the requirement would actually do anything to cut down on voter fraud, especially since it leaves absentee ballots – which are increasingly used – untouched.
Philosophers at Large
Posted July 12, 2006 By Dave ThomerA quick link to Philosophy, Etc., and a post that discusses the burning question of what kind of contribution philosophers should try to make to the public discourse.
Losers
Posted July 11, 2006 By Dave ThomerRemember when I said I might have been lucky not to go to a Phillies game? Well, I’m pretty sure of it now. One of the team’s owners, former managing partner Bill Giles, just got back from a trip to Italy and promptly put both feet in his mouth. The stuff about how the team owners really want to win and David Montgomery, the current managing partner, is doing a sensational job is frustrating but probably within the boundaries of “Well what do you expect him to say?” But then he has to offer his opinion on the Brett Myers fiasco, saying that Myers did nothing wrong and was really just trying to help his wife, despite other witnesses and police reports to the contrary. Montgomery came out today and said that Giles must have misunderstood what Montgomery was telling him about the incident. Which means that one of the team owners has a problem with listening comprehension and doesn’t have the sense to keep his mouth shut about events he doesn’t have any real knowledge or understanding of. Great.
In Brightest Day?
Posted July 10, 2006 By Dave ThomerI don’t have much to add to this post, but Matt Yglesias’ use of Green Lantern to illustrate certain conservative visions of foreign policy deserves a read.
The emphasis on willpower is especially dangerous, I think, because it’s one of the things that leads to any criticism of the government or the military policy being seen as something that makes the country, the military, and the men and women actually doing the fighting all weaker.