Soccer Dad: Submitted 04/19/2007

April 19, 2007

Submitted 04/19/2007

This week's Watcher's Council nominations are in:

They really should get out more - The Glittering Eye

However, what this editorial reflects more than anything else is that the editorial writer has no idea of what the Chinese produce, what we buy from the Chinese, or what goes into a modern aircraft.

Desegregation Consternation - Colossus of Rhodey

But in that regard, I'd be most curious as to what the "gap" was when segregation was legally sanctioned. It's almost a double-edged sword for the plaintiffs, regardless of what these statistics mights show. If the gap was greater in the days of official segregation, then the subsequent shrinking of the gap shows that the broken segregation barriers have worked -- and are working. Still, the argument for special programs tailored specifically for black children might still be persuasive (aside from their specific racial components, that is, which unfortunately seem to be part of the plaintiffs' contention). On the other hand, if the gap was less in the days of the legal segregation, then the legal argument becomes much more problematic: How do you explain how [black] children are doing worse academically with no racial barriers to impede their academic progress?

The Beast Among Us - Eternity Road

False accusations can mobilize the accused to bring them true, and without a shred of regret. "Might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb," as the old saying goes; if you're going to be called a racist, a homophobe, or an imperialist kuffar regardless of what you say or do, you might as well have whatever pleasure is available from being one. A man's conscience can cease to restrain him, if he's prodded too roughly or too long.

Recognizing that there is another side to the coin - The Bookworm Room

And then, one day, it clicked. Sadly, I can�t remember what I read, but I do know it was a book about education. Whatever it was, reading it, I realized why the Evangelicals were so upset. I saw that, if you came from a home where the package deal was that marriage is sanctified, that abortion is wrong, that homosexual conduct is wrong, that America is a good place, that Communism is a bad thing, and that if your children were placed in a school that had as a package-deal a curriculum that didn�t just present the existence of opposing views, but that actively denigrated your views and preached a comprehensive and antithetical world view, then that school was teaching an opposing belief system.

Happy Netted Nose - Done with Mirrors

The "mainstream" didn't drive Imus out of his job. The market didn't drain his voice. He was done in by a handful of corporate executives, spurred by two self-appointed censors (in the old, Roman sense of the word). If we're to have speech codes, can we at least settle on them democratically? If we are to be afflicted with censors, can they at least not appoint themselves?

Media At Its Worst On Display At Virginia Tech - Cheat Seeking Missiles

Most of these questions are based on false assumptions. How can you lock down a school? Is it even possible? How can you reach students with warnings if they all have iPod earphones in their ears? What would you email students to do if an isolated shooting occurs in an area that is now secured? How can anything other than an armed, always present police force instantly control a sprawling campus with multiple buildings? And how would the press and the student body (not to mention taxpayers and the ACLU) respond if such a force were employed?

Pornstar Meets Ms. Horndog the Teacher - Education Wonks

Heh. We'd be willing to bet that "merit-based promotion," isn't the method used to select and retain administrators in the Sandridge Elementary School District.

Hokie Horror - Rhymes with Right

As this murderer calmly executed his victims, not one had the means to actually engage in self-defense. As he massacred these innocents, not one of them could stop the evil-doer. All they could do was wait for help to arrive -- and die waiting.

When sorry is Really Sorry - JoshuaPundit

It used to be that, generally speaking, people took pride in taking personal responsibility for their actions, and when they felt they had made errors in judgement that called for an apology, they did what was necessary to fix it, to clean up the mess, to make things right.

Fighting Back was not an Option - Big Lizards

Empathy is a vital and decent response; a man who feels no empathy for a parent who lost a child is probably a psychopath. But empathic pain is simply not in the same league as the actual pain of such a terrible loss to those who suffer it themselves. Even those who know what such pain is like from personal experience don't feel it as intensely when empathizing with a stranger as when it happened to them.

Confession I hate Democracy - Right Wing Nuthouse

And herein lies a major difference between left and right regarding the nature of government; the left believes government is a living entity to be nurtured, pampered, even praised. The right believes, as the Founders did, that government is a utility that needs to be managed. (Would that it could be run as well as the phone company.)

There were so many good quotes this week I didn't feel like adding my own two cents.

My own submission was Hero and Villain about Profs Lebrescu and Roy. Prof Lebrescu was the hero and Prof Roy identified the villain.

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Watcher's Council