The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Category: politics

  • What’s the Matter with Kansas?

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    by

    mongreldogs
    in ,

    Today, at least, nothing. In a curiously intense summer primary contest for the state Board of Education, the day was won by people who believe that the science standards should reflect, you know, actual science. Their opponents were a cabal of Intelligent Design boosters. There’s a nice wrap-up at Forbes.com and a more gung-ho, in-your-face…

  • Signature Abuse

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    mongreldogs
    in

    A lot of attention lately has been focused on “presidential signing statements” — declarations by the President as to how he intends to interpret the statutues he signs into law. Though the signing statement has existed for the history of the Republic, the current President has grotesquely expanded its use. In a report by the…

  • Academic Freedom versus Indoctrination?

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    mongreldogs
    in ,

    A week or so ago (2006 July 23), the New York Times had an article (“Conspiracy Theories 101” by Stanley Fish) detailing a brouhaha surrounding Kevin Barrett. Mr. Barrett is a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin who has gotten into hot water because he shared with his students his strong conviction that the World…

  • Karl Rove meets Aaron Sorkin?

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    mongreldogs
    in

    So there’s been some buzz about the unscripted, undiplomatic, and somewhat profane remarks of President Bush in Russia, when he didn’t know a microphone was “hot”. (Bush’s Policy Chit-Chat: Undiplomatic Prose – New York Times). Or did he? I don’t want to get all tinfoil-hat, but…

  • … If You Can Keep It

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    mongreldogs
    in ,

    It’s a truism that’s become so trite it hardly rises to the level of a bumper sticker: Freedom isn’t free. You see it slapped across the back of SUVs, taped to the windows in Circle-K’s. Some days, it seems everyone can mouth the words but nobody understands them. Freedom isn’t free. It has always carried…

  • The Constitution, the Flag, and Fire

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    mongreldogs
    in ,

    OK, nominally this blog is supposedly about education. But school’s out, I don’t have any urgent education-think to lay out there, and there are other issues that speak to me. Today it’s about the so-called “flag burning amendment”. For those who object to political content bleeding into “neutral” areas, I’ll quarantine it behind a “Read…

  • The Rule of Law in Libraries

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    mongreldogs
    in

    I saw this piece on slashdot. It’s about a librarian (Michele Reuty) who is coming under fire for — gasp! — insisting that police follow the laws of New Jersey and obtain a warrant before rifling through the records of a public library. Despite following the policies of the library and, you know, the law,…

  • Should the Net be like railroads or the interstates?

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    mongreldogs
    in

    There’s a pretty decent explanation of the social history underlying the fight for Net Neutrality. This is going to be a big fight, and the author creates a useful narrative to understand it. As a teacher, I could wish for somewhat better editing and prose, but hey, it’s the summer and I’m off the clock.…