Author: pateacher

At the end of tonight’s “Countdown,” Keith Olbermann announced that it would be his last show on MSNBC.  One day after the merger between NBC and Comcast was approved.  This is no coincidence!  Brian Roberts, Comcast’s CEO, is a member of the conservative Business Roundtable and no doubt prioritized axing Olbermann as job one once he got his hands on MSNBC.  I for one am sad to see how swiftly this occurred and hope that Olbermann finds a new home sooner than later.

No corporate conspiracy theories here, just the facts:  I’m a member of the U2 Fanclub, and as such I get pre-sale opportunities to buy tickets for their upcoming tour.  So far, they have announced dates in September for New York (Giants Stadium), on the 24th and 25th (Thursday and Friday).  I’ll be there on Thursday.  Then, the tour goes to Washington D.C. for a show on Tuesday the 29th.  The tour then heads south.  Many of you will notice that the weekend of Sept. 26-27 has not been announced.  

I live in Philadelphia– smack between Giants Stadium and DC.  Why no Philly show (at least not yet?).  Philly is a great tour stop, and is perennially NOT disrespected by being passed by bands going from NY to DC.  Why is there no U2 weekend show scheduled for Philly?

A-ha.  The NFL just announced their schedule tonight, in a trumped-up “prime-time show” on ESPN.  Lo and behold, the Eagles will be playing at home on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 1:00.  Against traditional rivals (NOT) Kansas City.  No word yet from U2.com .  

Who holds the trump card here? U2 obviously held out to schedule a Philly show or two that weekend between their NY and DC stops.  The NFL just announced an Eagles-Chiefs game for 1:00 Sunday at the Linc.  In my opinion, U2 and all of the fans get screwed.  Can they stage a Saturday show and be ready for the Eagles-Chiefs by 1:00 on Sunday?  I doubt it.  I guess they can have a Monday night show and still get to DC for Tuesday, but whose interest is served by that?  Not the fans who have to come out on a weeknight, and not the band and the road crew who have to knock down and then set up overnight.

Why does the NFL have such clout, especially given that U2 seems to have left their entire international tour schedule open for a Philly stop (or two) until the NFL announced its schedule?  I have no beef with NFL ticket holders, nor with rabid Eagles fans who could care less about U2’s international tour, but I think this episode illustrates how incestuous is the relationship among TicketMaster, the NFL, major touring bands, and the stadiums.  Whose interests are NOT considered?  

Ours, the paying public, who at this point (if you live in the Philadelphia area) may have to either travel hours north or south (to NY or DC) on a weeknight, or may be shut out of the U2 international tour so that the Eagles can face the Chiefs at the Linc on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 1:00.

My wife runs an educational consulting firm and works with many teenagers to help them with the college application process.  While this rite of passage has always been fraught with stress and confusion, recent changes announced by the College Board have taken the tension to new levels.

Katherine’s ‘front line report’ follows.  Any feedback would be appreciated!

MORE TORTURE FOR TEENS

The recent article in the NYT (Dec 31, 2008) “SAT Changes Policy, Opening Rift with Colleges” highlights the most recent dialogue between The College Board and higher education.  This discussion is fueling a wildfire of stress and confusion for college bound students which is already raging out of control.  Where are the firemen?

The College Board announced this fall that it will change its policy regarding how students send their SAT scores to colleges, asserting that this change will reduce stress.  The truth is that this move has had the opposite effect sending students, guidance counselors and parents scrambling, and adding more stress to an already impossibly stressful college admissions process.  

Effective Feb. 2009 under a new policy called “Score Choice,” students will have the option to send only their best sitting (their best one day performance).  This is a change from the current policy where all of a student’s SAT scores, from all test dates, are sent in one comprehensive report.  The common practice has been for colleges to take the best score from each of the three sections from all test dates. This was a great way to go!  Students knew that they did not have to be “perfect” in all three sections all at the same time: a great math score from December would be combined with a great reading score from March in the college’s eyes.  Now, the College Board has changed the rules, higher education has yet to respond, and students are the victims of this confusion.  Should students just take as many tests as possible hoping for that one good day?  Maybe not.  According to the Times article some top schools “…have said that, Score Choice or not, they want all the scores – from the SAT and the ACT.”  Here again the miscommunication to students continues.  The contract for exercising the new Score Choice for the SAT, and the existing score choice for the ACT, is between the student and the testing companies – it seems that schools do not have the ability to get all scores, even if they want them.  What is the student to do?

Why are 17 year old kids put under this kind of excruciating pressure?  We have not heard from colleges about what their admissions criteria may look like for next year’s seniors.  Yet, eleventh graders are already taking SATs and ACTs to build their portfolios – they have to, they have no choice!  The timetable is brutally tight: PSATs, SAT Is, SAT IIs, ACTs, AP Exams, midterms in January and finals in June….football game on Friday night? prom? Are you kidding?  Eleventh graders are dutifully signing up for this while maintaining their grades, earning varsity letters, playing second chair in the orchestra and doing community service work – all the while with no clear direction as to how these tests will be required or weighed.  The pressure on kids is enormous, even under the current policy where at least students had the knowledge that colleges could see all of their scores, but select the best.  The new policy allows students to send just one set, three numbers, not nine to look at, just three!  Which three?  Should they still send them all?  What will colleges want?  

Each individual college determines its own admissions criteria.  This year’s seniors saw more variation in admissions criteria than any prior year and it is a trend that will continue.  Some schools were SAT optional, others allowed students to choose from a menu of requirements, Georgetown required three SAT IIs no matter what, University of Pennsylvania, Boston University and others accepted ACTs with Writing in lieu of SAT Is and SAT IIs, Penn State requires no letters of recommendation and the essay is optional, many schools will accept The Common Application, some schools require supplemental essays, others maintain their own individual applications – this is insane.  Are we really expecting 17 year olds to navigate this?  Guess what, they are not.  The wealthy hire private consultants, and the middle class and poor are too often left out of the process completely.

The stakes are very high and the pressure is taking its toll. Kids are in tears, cancelling scores within 24 hours, taking the test record numbers of times to try to hit the mark, preparing for months (in some cases years), spending large sums of money on testing fees and prep courses – and if you’re an athlete, you need to post your numbers even earlier.  Athletic scouts are not interested in the details of a full college resume, and why should they be?  What’s his name?  What are his erg scores? And what are his SATs?  

Pete Rose said, “I would walk through fire in a gasoline suit to play baseball.”  I love that quote, it is a powerful visual for passion.  But for this generation of teenagers, they are being forced to walk through fire in a gasoline suit to apply to college.  Who and where are the hoses!

I often read but rarely post.  

I am absolutely dumbfounded at the lack of ANY commentary about Rod Blagojevich here.  

I checked and checked and checked again as the story was unfolding today, and still, as of 9 pm, if one’s only perspective on the news was this blog, you would have no idea that one of the biggest (and most interesting, juiciest, and provocative) political stories of the year had taken place today.

I find this inexplicable, and inexcusable.  

WTF???

… and the complicit MSM.

The Republican spin machine is at it again.  They have launched a coordinated, preemptive strike against Patrick Fitzgerald and any pending indictments.  Basically, the strategy is: describing the prosecutor, the media, and any D’s who ‘dare’ impugn the reputation of the Cheney/Rove/Libby/WHIG cabal or express sympathy for Joe and Valerie Wilson, as bleeding-heart wimps who don’t understand how the “real world” of politics works.  They excuse the leak and any attempt to hide it as simply being “aggressive politics” and that anyone who complains is just being a baby.  

Unfortunately, and dare I say inevitably, they are good at this stuff.  It starts to seep in, even into the SCLM.  Most notable disappointments include Tim Russert, who basically gave Kay Bailey Hutchison free time on MTP this weekend to expound on the Republican talking points, and now Nicholas Kristof in today’s NYT, who opines that:

“Before dragging any Bush administration officials off to jail, we should pause and take a long, deep breath…  We don’t know what evidence has been uncovered by Patrick Fitzgerald, but we should be uneasy that he is said to be mulling indictments that aren’t based on his prime mandate, investigation of possible breaches of the 1982 law prohibiting officials from revealing the names of spies.  Instead, Mr. Fitzgerald is rumored to be considering mushier kinds of indictments, for perjury, obstruction of justice or revealing classified information.  [NOTE:  this is HOOK-LINE-AND-SINKER what the R fog machine wants us to think).

There is, of course, plenty of evidence that White House officials behaved abominably in this affair. I’m offended by the idea of a government official secretly using the news media – under the guise of a “former Hill staffer” – to attack former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. That’s sleazy and outrageous. But a crime?  I’m skeptical, even though there seems to have been a coordinated White House campaign against Mr. Wilson.  To me, the whisper campaign against Mr. Wilson amounts to back-stabbing politics, but not to obvious criminality.  [Note:  Did Sen. Hutchison write this for him?  This is EXACTLY what the R strategy says].

So I find myself repulsed by the glee that some Democrats show at the possibility of Karl Rove and Mr. Libby being dragged off in handcuffs. It was wrong for prosecutors to cook up borderline and technical indictments during the Clinton administration, and it would be just as wrong today. Absent very clear evidence of law-breaking, the White House ideologues should be ousted by voters, not by prosecutors.”

Aaarrggghhh!!!  Where can I start?  Not only does this column make Kristof look like an (unwitting?) supporter of the Republican spin-control team, but it makes the cardinal mistake throughout (in some passages that I didn’t quote, as well as the concluding passage above) of comparing Ken Starr’s investigation of Bill Clinton and the ultimate perjury charges there–over a BLOWJOB–to this investigation of a rogue White House cabal that successfully fogged the nation into WAR!!!  It is as outrageous as Sen. Hutchison’s comparison (which Russert failed to challenge!)  of this investigation with the MARTHA STEWART prosecution!

Well, they hopefully have started to rouse a sleeping lion.  A friend of mine who worked in the Clinton White House forwarded me an email that is making the rounds among Clinton alumni.  It is a GREAT collection of quotes from a long list of R stalwarts, including Hutchison herself, about the seriousness, severity, and impeachable character of a perjury charge.  Hopefully these quotes, gathered by the DSCC, can start to make the rounds (beginning here?) and some members of the SCLM can question these Senators about their shameful double-standard and hypocrisy.

From the DSCC – 1999 quotes from GOP Senators on
prejury and objstruction of justice –

Sen. Hutchison: “The reason that I voted to remove him from office is because I think the overridding issue here is that truth will remain the standard for perjury and obstruction of justice in our
criminal justice system and it must not be gray. It must not be muddy.” [AP, 2/12/99]

Sen. Frist: “There is no serious question that perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes and misdemeanors…Indeed, our own Senate precedent establishes that perjury is a high crime and misdemeanor…The crimes of perjury and
obstruction of justice are public crimes threatening the administration of justice.” [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. Kyl: “…there can be no doubt that perjurious, false, and misleading statements made under oath in federal court proceedings are indeed impeachable offenses…John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States, said `there is no crime more extensively pernicious to society’ than perjury, precisely because it `discolors and poisons the streams of justice.'” [Congressional
Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. DeWine: “Obstruction of justice and perjury
strike at the very heart of our system of justice…Perjury is also a very serious
crime…The judiciary is designed to be a mechanism for finding the truth-so that justice can be done. Perjury perverts the judiciary,
turning it into a mechanism that accepts lies-so that injustice may prevail.” [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. Talent: “Nobody else in a position of trust, not a CEO, not a labor union leader, not a principal of a school could do half of what the president has done and stay in office. I mean, who would have said a year ago that a president could perjure himself and obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses… and stay in office.”
[CNBC, “Hardball,” 12/19/98]

Sen. McConnell: “I am completely and utterly perplexed by those who argue that perjury and obstruction of justice are not high crimes and misdemeanors…Perjury and obstruction hammer away
at the twin pillars of our legal system: truth and justice.” [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. Voinovich: “As constitutional scholar Charles
Cooper said, `The crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice, like the crimes of
treason and bribery, are quintessentially offenses
against our system of government, visiting injury immediately on society
itself.'” [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. Brownback: “Perjury and obstruction of justice are crimes against the state. Perjury goes directly against the truth-finding function of the judicial branch of government.”
[Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

OK, folks, let’s get to work.  Let’s get THESE quotes out there, in context of blowjob vs. war, and take back the high ground on this one.

I never thought I’d be saying that, but Minority Leader Reid is showing the kind of plain-spoken honesty that has been so greivously LACKING from national Democratic spokesmen recently– at least, since Howard Dean ended his presidential bid last spring.  If you, like me, have been waiting for someone else to come along who, like Dr. Dean, is willing to say publicly what we are all saying privately (and here), then you will be pleased to see an article in today’s Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/10/AR2005051001600.html  It has Reid answering a question about his calling Bush a ‘loser’ in comments to a high school class by saying that:

Wow.  All I can say is, it’s about time!  That is not just some intemperate rant, or juvenile name-calling.  It is instead a very well-reasoned, specific, succinct indictment of this administration on several very legitimate fronts.  That is what I want my elected officials to say.  In fact, that last quote is what I want to say, only my soapbox isn’t nearly as large as Senator Reid’s!  Can you imagine Tom Daschle ever saying anything like that?  Thought not…
When Reid ascended to the leadership I was skeptical.  I remain concerned about his pro-life position and about the party’s recent softening on this, which I believe ought to be one of the most inviolable of our party’s principles.  But his courage and willingness to call ’em like he sees ’em has given me great satisfaction– even pride!– and I only hope he manages to hang tough.  Republicans have no problem being incredibly rude and critical of Democrats, and it’s about time that more of our elected leaders would begin to follow Harry Reid’s example.

The Post article goes on to suggest that Reid’s willingness to shoot from the hip could become a liability: as they say, “A danger for Democrats is that their leader’s utterances– even if colleagues privately agree with him– could make them look unreasonable at exactly the time when they are trying to convince Americans that they are the sensible ones in the looming fight over Bush’s judicial nominees.”
So, what do you think– take the poll:

[promoted to the Front Page by BooMan]

I am disgusted and outraged at the lack of ability that Harry Reid has to keep our flimsy little caucus together on key votes.  This was BIG.  And we could have won.  Very discouraging.

The Cantwell-Kerry amendment to the budget resolution failed, 49-51.  Guess what?  Three Dems (DINOs) voted against.  Landrieu I can sort of understand (Louisana is oil).  Akaka and Inouye I have no idea.  What– Alaska and Hawaii have to stick together since they’re not part of the contiguous 48?  As the most recent states, they have a pact of solidarity?  This makes no sense.  This was a huge opportunity, especially as 6 Repubs (Chafee, Snowe, McCain, Smith, Collins, and Coleman) voted for the amendment (against drilling).  If we acted like a party for ONCE, at least on a BIG vote like this, we can get stuff done, even with only 44.  

I am very discouraged by this.  Also by my jackass Senator Specter, who could/should have voted for the amendment.  He keeps giving us little bits of false hope that he has a pair, but then pulls shit like this to keep pissing me off.  

AAARRGGGHHH.  I am bummed.

Here are phone numbers for Akaka: 202 224 6361 and Inouye 202 224 3934.  They suck.