6:29 Mar 9th, 2012 | 3 notes
" After all, achievement in higher education correlates powerfully with performance in the workplace. Recent numbers indicate that only 4% of those with university degrees are unemployed, while the rate rises to 16% for those with no high school diploma. Ironically, this field of Republican contenders amounts to the best-educated crop of major candidates in the history of American politics. Each of the final four holds at least one prestigious post-graduate degree. Dr. Ron Paul earned his medical degree from Duke and Newt Gingrich won a doctorate from Tulane; Mitt Romney holds both law and MBA degrees from Harvard, while Rick Santorum got the same two degrees from Dickinson School of Law and the University of Pittsburgh, respectively. What's more, Mr. Santorum's family background shows the profound value of education in lifting the disadvantaged into the middle class and beyond. The campaign likes to leave the impression that he grew up in the coal fields of Pennsylvania, but young Rick actually came of age in a home where the father earned a doctorate and worked as a clinical psychologist while the mother toiled outside the house as a well-credentialed administrative nurse; it was his immigrant grandfather who worked the coal mines. It makes no sense for the former senator to hide his own family's success story, because his parents' progress exemplifies the sort of achievement that all mothers and fathers seek for their children. Sure, it's important to talk about protecting and increasing manufacturing jobs, because so many hard-pressed people depend on them. But those same workers dream that the next generation may choose educational options that extend their horizons beyond industrial employment."
it’s not often I agree with the content of the WSJ’s editorial page, but this is right on. democrats should be all over those education/unemployment stats.
3:40 Feb 8th, 2012 | 2 notes
"From Cambridge to Brooklyn, from Georgetown to Hyde Park, from West L.A. to pretty much the entire Bay Area, you could almost hear the howls of anguish this morning."
1:45 Jan 11th, 2012 | 3 notes
People who know what kind of new world they want to create through revolution are trouble enough; those who only know what they want to destroy are a curse.
Mark Lilla, “Republicans for Revolution”, NYRB
1:13 Jan 11th, 2012 | 5 notes
"Listening to Romney, one sometimes feels trapped in a science-fiction story that has been written to explore the question of whether robots can lie, or be greedy."
11:55 Jan 3rd, 2012 | 211 notes
Anyone But Romney: The race by the Republican right to find an ‘ABR’ continues
great graphic.
8:04 Dec 19th, 2011 | 16 notes
Evil Poor People at WalMart
Should there be a list of things that poor people should not be allowed to purchase when they are receiving welfare? Should the government restrict American citizens from buying electronics or cake when they are on welfare? Are toys for kids on the “Do not buy” list when you are poor? Do people give up all autonomy and rights while on welfare? If I lose my job, am I not allowed to have a beer every once in a while?
