So You Want My Job?: High School Teacher →
artofmanliness.com
Great article on a male perspective of teaching. I am definitely looking forward to what the next year holds for me with teaching!
February 2012
33 posts
“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.”
—
Malcolm X.
A message to my brothers and sisters in Syria. Keep fighting.
Philosophy reading recommendations... GO!
What should I be reading to expand my mind?
What makes killing wrong? →
jme.bmj.com
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Franklin G. Miller have a (perhaps controversial) new paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics [ungated] on morality, killing, and vital organ transplantation; here’s the abstract:
What makes an act of killing morally wrong is not that the act causes loss of life or consciousness but rather that the act causes loss of all remaining abilities. This account implies that it is not even pro tanto morally wrong to kill patients who are universally and irreversibly disabled, because they have no abilities to lose. Applied to vital organ transplantation, this account undermines the dead donor rule and shows how current practices are compatible with morality.
I suspect that a fair number of people will have complaints with the argument put forward by Sinnott-Armstrong and Miller, especially insofar as they accept that their view on killing and organ transplantation might be regarded as representing a “ radical departure from traditional morality and medical ethics.” But I’ll be particularly curious about how they will complain since the argument — at least on my reading — is pretty carefully constructed.
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“While Republicans promote themselves as the friendliest party for Wall Street, stock investors do better when Democrats occupy the White House,” Bloomberg reports.
In fact, since John F. Kennedy was inaugurated, $1,000 invested in a hypothetical fund that tracks the S&P 500 “only when Democrats are in the White House would have been worth $10,920 at the close of trading yesterday. That’s more than nine times the dollar return an investor would have realized from following a similar strategy during Republican administrations.”
“The Democratic edge is so large that the party comes out ahead even without counting Bill Clinton (the Democrat with the biggest S&P 500 gain) and George W. Bush (the Republican with the worst market record). A hypothetical $1,000 investment under Democrats excluding Clinton was worth $3,539 versus $3,296 invested under Republicans except Bush.”
” —Stock Market Does Much Better Under Democrats
It’s been known for decades that Democrats are better for the economy than Republicans, but I never tire of seeing such stories in the media.
(via ryking)
“The United States has come to develop a public education system that at times has been the envy of the world. We have made it a common concern to care for the education of the youth, and sought social and academic development through public schools. Unfortunately, we have never been able to fully achieve the ideal of a liberal, equitable education system for all citizens. Up until Brown v. Board of Education, black students were segregated into schools that ultimately provided an inferior environment for education. Even after the abolition of segregated schools, a significant achievement gap exists in the education system, especially among students of lower socio-economic status. There is not true equity within the American school systems, and this lack of equity inevitable impinges upon excellence. There are many factors that contribute to the educational achievement gap in the United States, but that does not mean that solutions are not possible. All great injustices have complex roots, which require innovative way to kill the weeds that plague society.”
—Me, from my Senior Thesis titled, “A Season of Inequality: Summer Vacation as a Barrier to Equity in Education.”
Conza: The Meaning of War →
conza.tumblr.com
A suggestion from Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), signer of the Declaration of Independence and pioneer psychiatrist.
Signs of War
In order more deeply to affect the minds of the citizens of the United States with the blessings of peace, by contrasting them with the evils of war, let the…
Wow. Just wow. This is amazing.
Global Warming. Solved.
The climate experts and people who devote their lives to studying global warming say it is happening, so it is happening; therefore, we ought to do something about it, such as a carbon tax.
Solved. Next topic? Any questions?
“All I know is under Obama, President Obama, the Muslims of the world, he seems to be more concerned about them than the Christians that are being murdered in the Muslim countries. Islam sees him as a son of Islam… I can’t say categorically that (the president is not Muslim) because Islam has gotten a free pass under Obama.”
—
The Rev. Franklin Graham • Speaking on “Morning Joe” this morning about Obama’s faith. Hey, next time you feel like making a statement like this, Franklin, CALL YOUR DAD. He will lead you in a better direction that this sort of dividing fearmongering. (via shortformblog)
It really is sad that someone, who’s a father has worked with Presidents on either side of the aisle and been above the political fray, would come out and say something like this. Franklin Graham, I am “frankly” disappointed. *pun intended*
Income Inequality Breaks Down Rule of Law →
newdeal20.org
One of the central characteristics of highly unequal societies is that two sets of laws develop: One set for the rich and powerful and one set for everyone else. The more unequal societies become, the more easily they accept the unacceptable, and with each unrebuked violation, the powerful actors at the top of the society gain an ever greater sense of entitlement and an ever greater sense that the laws that govern everyone else don’t apply to them. As a result, their behavior becomes increasingly egregious.
I would suggest that the robo-mortgage scandal is a strong indicator that this type of unequal justice is now becoming ever more commonplace in America. Past bank abuses are typically discussed without a sense of outrage. They have, in effect, become a recognized practice of deception with no consequences. Here are three prominent examples from the past few years:
First, the robo-mortgage scandal was discovered. As powerful members of society, the banks effectively decided what laws they wanted to follow and disregarded others. The banks claimed that their violations were technical and harmed no one. Nonetheless, the activities of the banks constituted massive fraud, perjury, and conspiracy. Bank officials have testified in court that they filed as many as 10,000 false affidavits a month. These are effectively undeniable admissions of law-breaking on a massive scale.
It’s a federal crime, punishable by up of five years of imprisonment, to knowingly file a false affidavit with the court. From the perspective of the law, you are guilty of the same perjury when you falsely testify in court or when you submit a false affidavit. In most states, filing false affidavits with the court similarly constitutes a felony offense of perjury.
If an individual citizen perpetrated this kind of massive perjury, he or she would be prosecuted. For illegal activities to take place on this type of massive scale, other serious crimes, such as conspiracy, are undoubtedly committed as well.
The banks committed very clear, easily provable crimes by transferring property titles that they didn’t own- stealing from homeowners, and lying to the court about it. The only consequence they face for these crimes is the “settlement” that affords for less than a $2,000 per loan file fine- not bad for a felony offense that can normally result in five years in prison.
That’s assuming that the banks even comply with that much. Gretchen Morgenson at the New York Times details how Banks often simply forgo their end of settlements:
[T]wo years of statistics, through last September, show 5,771 cases where mediators found that banks had failed to participate in good faith or were not complying with other aspects of the mediation law. That is equivalent to 42 percent of all the mediations completed in the [Foreclosure Mediation Program in Nevada].
This is in addition to other bank fraud settlements in Nevada that Bank of America violated with what appears to be complete impunity. We have two sets of rules now; one of the wealthy and one for the rest of us.
Play
So for the next month on tumblr, I am going to give short, one sentence statements order to address significant and complex issues.
What should I solve?
Teacher Evaluations, and the Political Climate around Education →
washingtonpost.com
An absolutely amazing article that discusses the new teacher evaluation program that is being voted on in New York. It is a must read for everyone interested in education policy, teaching, and the future of education and the teaching profession in the United States.
