The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Author: mongreldogs

  • I am a Values Voter

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    After the election in 2004, we were preached at that George W. Bush won election (not re-election) due to the rejection of John Kerry by “values voters” .. as if the millions who voted for Kerry had no decent values. That spurred me to write the following, which I still embrace today. In this election,…

  • Lying Lies and the Liars Who Tell Them

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    In case you — like me — watched Sarah Palin’s speech from the Republican National Convention and keep saying — like me — “I know that’s a lie”, but were unable to point to a source, let me offer this post by Hilzoy over at Political Animal @ the Washington Monthly. It sums up the…

  • McCain’s VP

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    So, Senator John McCain has chosen Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as his running mate. Wow. It’s taken me a while to get my head around this. Sarah Palin is a political neophyte — if your main charge is that Barack Obama is inexperienced, then you have to see Sarah Palin as INEXPERIENCED. All of…

  • Senator Clinton’s Speech

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    Senator Hilary Clinton has finished her address to the Democratic National Convention. My personal response: She didn’t hit it out of the park but she definitely got some extra bases and maybe batted some runs in. I think she delivered a full-throated, crystal clear indictment of the past eight years and of John McCain’s alignment…

  • Review: Marc Cohn at the Westhampton Beach Peforming Arts Center

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    Marc Cohn & band Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center Sunday 2008 August 24 8:30 PM It’s my habit to see Marc Cohn every chance I get during the New York leg of his tours. This explains why, three days after my last Cohn concert, I schlepped all the way out along Long Island’s southern shore…

  • Review: Marc Cohn at the St. George Theater

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    Marc Cohn with Toby Lightman St. George Theater, Staten Island, NY Thursday 2008 August 21 This is another in my ongoing series of reviews of Marc Cohn shows. See this earlier one and this one as well for comparison. The St. George is a beautiful venue, an old vaudeville theater (I assume) which has been…

  • Throwing Out the Textbook (Part II)

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    (Part I gives the background.) Since the date to order a textbook has long since passed, I’m pretty committed to not going with one for “Space Science & Astrophysics”. I’ve taken the plunge. The problem is, I don’t know exactly what the course should look like now. Most especially, I don’t know of a good…

  • Throwing out the Textbook (Part I)

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    (You can skip to Part II.) Some of you might remember that this is nominally a blog about education. It’s time again to shunt aside all the personal and political things I like to blog about, and to instead post about my classes. I do this in part because school starts soon and I am…

  • Review: Counting Crows with Maroon 5

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    Counting Crows with Maroon 5 Also with Sara Bareilles Thursday 2008 Aug 7 PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel, NJ My usual way to review a show would be to give the playlist and say what I did or didn’t like about each. That’s not going to work this time for a host of reasons. First…

  • I Didn’t Know

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    For all the regular readers — both of them — wondering what’s prompted the past week of short bursts of happy posts, a hint. It’s about as subtle as a bowling ball and not nearly so good as it should be, but for what it’s worth, it is earnest. Further details, alas, are embargoed for…