You Are, Of Course, Stupid

The reason to criticize Obama is because his policies are wrong. I would, as an example, argue that he has been lukewarm in working to end the surveillance state and should be investing more in infrastructure and so on. I understand, equally as of course, that the various coequal branches of government hinder and obstruct, see Gitmo. One thing not to do, however, is to use one's misapprehensions of Obama's character as the basis for criticizing his policy. Glenn Reynolds:

Meanwhile, on foreign policy -- another Carter weak point -- Obama also looks worse. Carter blew it with Iran, encouraging the Iranian armed forces to stay in their barracks, while Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's radical Islamists (whom Carter thought of as "reformers") took power, and then approved the ill-conceived hostage rescue mission that ended with ignominious failure in the desert. Obama, by contrast, could only wish for such success.

Obama has done a very fine job of foreign policy, if we view it through the narrow lens of America's traditional foreign policy goals. Indeed, the recent "success"[1] is further evidence of his actual seriousness and leadership ability. Odd, then, that bufflaheads chose this to attack him. I suppose this results, at least in part, from the fact that his other policies accomplish more or less what he expects them to.[2]


[1] It's strikes me as clear that the assassination was illegal. But, so what? If Bush would have done it way back whenever, the loss of one life would have saved god knows how many lives and endless trillions of dollars. The idea that one death of an unpleasant man dedicated to murder in the service of his own ends violates all manner of moral and ethical rules indicts the rules not the action. IMHO.

[2] Obama isn't, in other words, a man of the left.

David Brooks

I was going to mention that David Brooks' column from today was bullshit, in the Frankfurtian sense of bullshit, when I stumbled on a London Review of Books post on the "Ten Weirdest Sentences" in Brooks' latest opus. My personal favorite:

Imagine a man who buys a chicken from the grocery store, manages to bring himself to orgasm by penetrating it, then cooks and eats the chicken.

I really do think that sums up Brook's utter thingness, where thingness stands for idiocy.

Torture Doesn't Work

This line of argument, from Josh Marshall over to TPM, is really bizarre:

As a more general matter it's important to recognize that torture could easily have produced the key information. It just seems not to have in this case. You can be doctrinaire in opposing torture without being doctrinaire in assuming that it can't produce any good intelligence, which would be foolish.

We have known for the longest time that torture doesn't work.It's like the ticking time, how would you know if what the torturee said was true?  You torture the guy, run to where he says it is. If it's there okay, if it's not? More torture. New information also proven untrue. More torture. etc.  That's how it worked with the witches. Unless, of course, you think that witches actually existed.

Justified

Allegedly, Obama's doing something Bush couldn't in a way totally different from Bush's notion of defeating "terror" by invading various nations, some of which had nothing to do with "terror," proves that Bush was right all along. There is also the notion out there by unnamed-highly-placed somebodies or another that it was torture that got the ball rolling. Peter King, for example, on the basis of nothing asserted that waterboarding led to the information. There is also the idea that Bush's sticktoitness made the killing of Osama possible. Remember that by the end of his time spent ruining all our nice things, Bush claimed that he had stopped worrying about Osama.

It seems to me that what this event shows is that Obama would have followed a different tactical and operational path had he been in office and, if getting OBL, was the end game he'd have gotten there sooner. Although I doubt that this will change the larger policy of blowing things up and killing people, one can always hope that Obama will declare victory and bring the troops home.

UPDATE:
It looks like torture played no role in the information gathering. Score one for humanism.

History Remains a Discipline: Analogy Edition

Lots of people are going to use Bush I's popularity after Gulf I as an analogy to any increase in Obama's popularity after Osama's assassination. It's important to remember that Gulf I was an invasion fought to get rid of history's greatest monster that ended without getting rid of the monster, who the majority of America had never heard of. Osama, on the other hand, is a long-sought and well-known example of history's greatest monster part twenty thousand. Plus and also, his death comes at the end of a long week in which Obama showed that he has no time for silliness because, you know, he is busy killing Osama, to say nothing of his making the point, with jokes yet, that he has no time for silliness because he is busy doing important things, like killing Osama. The events and any increase in popularity Obama obtains are different in kind, degree, and import.

Edumacation

Yesterday, the NYT had to op-eds on education. One, written by DAve Eggers and Ninive Clements Calegari,argued from improving teachers conditions of work, wages, and status as a necessary, but not sufficient, step in the process of improving education. It was nice to see somebody discussing educational reform without relying on the tired and sloppy habit of blaming teachers. But still the focus in teachers.

The other was another in a series of one of those here is the necessary and sufficient step that solves for all time any problems in education. Its author, R Baker Bausell, bashed teachers and made the argument for

measuring the amount of time a teacher spends delivering relevant instruction — in other words, how much teaching a teacher actually gets done in a school day.

Adminstrators

could simply videotape a few minutes of instruction a day, then evaluate the results to see how much time teachers spent on their assigned material and the extent to which they were able to engage students.

 And

the very process of recording classroom instruction would probably push some underperforming teachers to become more efficient.

See what he did there? Identified a problem: teachers need to spend more time teaching. Then identified a villian: lazy teachers. Offered solution: increased administrative interference in the classroom.

The first point is that teaching, particularly in the primary and secondary level, has to components: teaching and classroom management. Classroom management means, fundamentally, making the little darlings behave. Classroom management becomes more difficult if students don't, for example, respect their teachers, see much point in education and, consequently, aren't sufficiently motivated to do much of anything.

Size matters. Image that you have to teach as 7 year old reading, writing, maths, geology, history, civics, etc five days a week for 180 days between 6 and 7 hrs a day. How many would you want to confront at any given moment? 5? 10? 15? 20? 25? 30? 35? 40? When people start discussing education and insist that classroom size is really not that important. Imagine this nightmare situation: a class of 40 7 year olds in the spring, the first nice day of spring -- in fact, and you're about teach them about the formation of igneous rocks. A walk in the park, no doubt. 

Teachers in America faced that reality everyday, not in the sense that everyday is the first nice day in spring, and in many cases do so little to no community or administrative support with students whose parents struggle to earn enough to make live. Teachers play perhaps the most important role in creating education; however, they don't do it in a vacuum and pretending that they do is consistently and persistently put the cart before the horse. If we fail or refuse to work on diminishing and, ultimately, extirpating inequality all the reform proposals in the world aren't going to make enough of difference.

A Funeral and Four Predictions

Osama bin Laden is dead. I predict that
1) The Right will not, except grudgingly, acknowledge that Obama is ultimately and immediately responsible.
2) The Right will, by the end of the month at the latest, decide that Osama really didn't matter.
3) This event will not change America's foreign policy by a jot or tittle.
4)  There will be no terrorist attack on America for which AQ or the Taliban is responsible.

Did You Know

That Canada has a complicated and contentious political system in which, right now, its the social democrats versus the prince of darkness?

Reviewer Reviewed

Recently Tom McCarthy reviewed both David Foster Wallace's Pale King and the collection of essays on fatalism and free will in which a Wallace essay appears. Today the Times printed two letters. The first, respectfully, calls McCarthy an ignoramus on the cogency of the debate on fatalism and free will. The second, for the fatalism and free text's editor, points out, much less respectfully, that McCarthy was wrong about the publications content, history, and purpose and that he knows nothing about the philosophic roots of fatalism versus free will. McCarthy, understandably enought -- why make himself look worse, doesn't respond. Both letters, but the second in particular, raise the question of editors and fact checkers at the NYTRB do. It is, I suppose, to much to ask that they understand the philosophical aspect of the two books but surely McCarthy's claim that fatalism and free will was only Wallace's text could be checked with the Google.

Also, Shirley McClain's I Over All That, in which she discusses, among other things, her "past lives" inclusion on the nonfiction list is further evidence, should it be needed, that the NYT is losing interest in words and their meaning.

These Are The Women Your Father's Father Warned About

Susan B. Anthony famously said "I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world" and Frances Willard structured her book on feminist activism around learning to ride a wheel. While others have shown how the bicycle threatened patriarchal control and gender norms. This picture, I think, tells the whole tale:

The women are about to ride off on their own leaving behind kid and dad in pursuit of their own ends and by their own means. They are moving forward and the men in their lives are standing still. In just a few short pedals they will be free. And now bicycles are inexpensive enough for all.

It's The End of The World As We Know it and He Feels Fine

The people responsible for hiring and firing people have been firing them at a decent clip and not hiring them at a slightly faster pace. The people responsible for getting or giving wages and dividing wealth have, for some time now, decided that fewer people with preposterously large incomes and ridiculous levels of wealth is better than seeing to it the vast majority of Americans have decent wages and any wealth.

Matthew Yglesias thinks that this if "fine."

And then asks, what he sees as,

[t]he real question is: Why are policymakers satisfied with FINE?

Two points: The economy isn't fine; after 30 odd years of Yglesias' Neoliberalism it's broken. Policy makers are doing the wrong thing because right now Neoliberalism reigns supreme.

If he actually wanted to fix the problem, he attack Neoliberalism and admit that it broke the world in the first place.

Oh For Dumb

Adnrew Sullivan insists that

[t]his should piss off some liberal readers. Robin Hanson calls the above video an example of "natural hypocrisy":

Most people believe that redistributing money within a nation is good, but that redistributing GPA within a school is bad, and if asked why these should be treated differently, have little to say.

First there is the difference between taxes, paying for civilization and all that, and GPA, showing how badly or well as student is doing. Secondly, has anyone involved in thinking that this is an example of "natural hypocrisy" ever taught or taken a class? Students and teachers participate in creating an education as a group. Kids who do well at some aspect of education, say math or science, help raise other kids scores through group work, class discussion and so on.

The only way something this silly would piss anybody off is if they fail to recognize that all group activities "redistribute" the good or benefit created by group effort. It's the crooks who take more than they earn and the liars who insist that such crookedness is not only natural but necessary and good.

They've Been at it For a While

From WIIIAI when learn that what we now call Neoliberalism has been waging it's war on people for sometime now:

Taylorism. Frederick Taylor holds a demonstration of “scientific management” at Carnegie Hall. He showed how 30 girls in a bicycle factory can do the work of 100 in less time. Taylor bemoans the short-sighted trade unions for opposing putting 70 girls out of work through scientific management. For example – and watch out for one of the greatest phrases in the history of the English language – “When my friend [Frank Bunker] Gilbreth worked out his philosophy of bricks he ran against the unions.”

Enjoy the weather.

David Brooks is an Annoying Such And So

An aside from his recent op-ed:

The purpose of the meeting was to see which regions were doing a good job of getting the veterans treatment and housing vouchers, and which weren’t. (Democrats seem to feel comfortable using vouchers to address housing problems but not education and health care problems.)

Because providing housing is different from providing education and health care. Consequently, people who prefer to get things done right rather than mindless follow some failed ideology do different things to resolve the problems.

Also, too: "seem to feel comfortable"? How about: concluded after looking at the evidence?

And as well:

Unlike some political appointees, Donovan and Gould are deeply involved in the intricacies and are powerfully driving policy.

Name the rapscallions, you passive aggressive such like. The whole thing is a master class is insinuation, faulty logic, and unsupported conclusion. It is, in other words, Brookstastic.

Three Things

Apparently, many folks think that the Royal Wedding is just like any other junk tv or entertainments, which is -- of course-- true if the junk tv or other entertainments shore up a reactionary political system in which birth and religion determine suitability for office and, equally as of course, if the junk tv or other entertainments cost the British public 20 million pounds per episode, which is all a way of saying: no it's not.

Jonathan Chait's suggestion that Trump is a "serious" candidate for office ought properly debar him from commenting on political issues.

Despite the attempts by the Republicans to inflate the "damage" done to the Capital here in Wisconsin, it's clear that it was trivial.

Also here in Wisconsin, let's all give a cheer for this:

Another [Democratic senator facing recall] Mark Miller recall group run by Utah-based activist Dan Baltes has a deadline of May 4. Jeffery Horn, organizer of the local group that missed its deadline, told supporters in a Facebook post that his group would not merge signatures with Baltes' group due to concerns over its tactics and motives.

Locavor: it's not just for breakfast anymore.

What Trump Meant

There's a post a with a really powerful video over here concerning what Trump was really saying.

Books and Food

This looks to be a great cookbook for free yet.

Books and Music

From here I found out that Continuum has a whole series of shortish books on specific musicians. Looks very interesting.

Royal Wedding

In the absence of Fred Astair, I think it's fair to say that far more people don't care or have an active dislike of Wills and What's her name, than are willing to awake at 4 am to watch a bunch of rich twits whose wealth is totally unearned and whose social role could be filled by Snooki and political part played by Berty Wooster. And yet the whole disgraceful mess is on the tv all the time. Why?, you ask.

Well I'll tell ya. It beats working. Think about all the other stories and all the work necessary to understand them and then to try and tell these more complicated stories in simpler language, because you only get 10 second or whatever, and who wouldn't want to take a week off in order to discuss the marriage of two people very few people care very much about.

It's like the birther thingy, easier to cover that without pointing out that it's false then to, for example, explain why Trump's version of invasion wouldn't work or why Ryan's budget wouldn't work and pointing out that attacking the weak in the way it does isn't an act of bravery. And so on.

Homo Economicus

If people took and kept jobs solely because for monetary reason, Chris Rickert's marginally coherent column in today's WSJ wouldn't be the insulting bit of nonsense it is. People work at whatever for reasons of social stature, sense of personal fulfilment and so forth.

Consequently, teachers are taking early retirements because for years now the Conservative and their flim flam educational "reformers" have been attacking teachers for years now.  And now armed with the power granted them by a mendacious dope and unopposed by administrators who ought to know better, they are harassing teachers by arbitrarily changed conditions at work, like start and planning time, and, in general, pursuing a series of policies designed to destroy moral.

Synchronicity

I was looking for A.C. Grayling's new humanist manifesto and found instead his Very Short Introduction to Wittgenstein. According to Grayling Hitler and Wittgenstein attended school together at Linz. I've never heard anything like that; however,  while searching the intertubes I found this:

And a discussion here.

The world is weird, ana.

Justice!

No one involved with planning and justifying the kidnapping and torture of foreigners in Gitmo and elsewhere will ever face a tribunal; no one involved with the fraudulent sale of credit defaults or other bizarro financial instruments will ever face a judge. If, on the other hand, you are a single mother who "robs" a school district of education for you son by moving your van to a different city, the hammer of justice falls swiftly.

Oh For Dumb

So Matthew Yglesias understands that all the promises of charter schools are a nonsense. But he can't bring himself to reverse his position on choice and the perfection of the market. He, consequently, moves the goal posts from charter schools and choice creating better outcomes to charter schools and choice increasing human happiness because of illusions.

On the other hand, when confronted with something that all profession educators understand as a necessary first step to improving outcomes: class size. He denigrates it.

It's almost like he doesn't care about ends so longs as his means are put into place.

Enlightenment: German Edition

One of the enduring myths of old regime Prussia was the White Lady. Allegedly when a Prussian monarch was slated for death the White Lady appeared on a stair case. German speaking enlighteners hoped upon hope that proving there was no such thing as ghosts despaired of their failure to purge this mythic vision from the popular imagination. They didn't, however, quit trying to purge this mythic vision from the popular imagination because, they correctly thought, that purging this mythic, which is to say incorrect, vision from the popular imagination would benefit the population at large in two ways. The first would be the specific falsehood and the second would be the general. It was an optimistic  assessment of humanities ability to learn the difference between fact and fiction. Despite the specific failure, humanistic optimist like me support this kind of action. Fictions need to be shown to be fictions.

Today President Obama released his "long form" birth dealio proving he is an actual American citizen. Many on the Intertubes and its related nets are baffled by this decision. Their argument is, essentially, that these birther yahoos can never be satisfied and, therefore, Obama was wrong to try and show that their fictions were, in fact, fictions.

For me, Obama's decision was one more of the many ultimately successful attempts of making facts more powerful than fictions. So, I say, well done young pirate and way to continue the endless and necessary commitment to truth's triumph over lies.

This Is Ridiculous

Over to Balloon Juice, we learn that the newly-installed administrator of Benton Harbor MI wants to lead it back to solvency by

Mr. Harris began paying debts, laying off workers and considering a plan to merge the fire and police departments into a single unit where firefighters could ultimately answer burglary calls and police officers could put out fires.

If you go to the NYT and read the whole thing this startling factoid leaps out

One commissioner glowered at Mr. Harris (whom the city is required to pay $11,000 a month under his state contract) when they crossed paths in City Hall.

12x11= 132k per annum. Nice work.