Our Despicable State Legislature
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Public Policy and Governance on January 26th, 2012
What can anyone say about Indiana’s legislature that adequately captures the perversity, the stupidity and the venality of the place? It is hard to believe the sheer amount of embarrassing antics they have managed to cram into a short session. From the patently unconstitutional (teaching creationism, really? Every court that has ever considered the matter has [...]
I Couldn’t Have Said It Better
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 26th, 2012
Every so often, someone will come across my first book–”What’s a Nice Republican Girl Like Me Doing at the ACLU?”–and will express surprise that I was once a Republican. That happened the other day, and I tried to explain how different the party I belonged to for so long–35 years!–was from the party they see [...]
What He Said
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Public Policy and Governance on January 25th, 2012
A relatively simple statement from the President’s State of the Union speech last night deserves emphasis. After reminding Americans of the economic situation when he assumed office, when the country was bleeding jobs and reeling from the collapse of the housing bubble, Obama reported “In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three [...]
Shortchanging Students
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Education / Youth on January 24th, 2012
Okay, okay … I may be beating the proverbial dead horse here, but yesterday, a colleague shared an article written by the the president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, bemoaning the continuing elevation of what I’ve called “credentialing” over the sort of broad, liberal education that Americans used to recognize as an ideal. [...]
Another Kind of Polarization?
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 23rd, 2012
In a column justt before the South Carolina primary, David Brooks relayed a number of conversations with Republican primary voters. His treatment of them was what one might expect of the always civil Brooks–sympathetic and respectful. But one line in particular struck me. After commenting on the nostalgia expressed by several voters, Brooks noted that such [...]
You’ll Never Get Your Hair Cut in this Town Again
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Public Policy and Governance on January 22nd, 2012
Recently, a colleague of mine was asked to research the impact of professional licensing laws and to report her findings to a legislative study committee. Licensing laws have steadily proliferated—in1970, about 10% of the American workforce required a license of some sort in order to earn a living; by 2000, that percentage had doubled to [...]
Polarization as Strategy
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 21st, 2012
Matt Yglesias had a very interesting post yesterday about the recent SOPA debate, and the success of opponents to that legislation. He made five points, and it would be hard to argue with any of them: money counts, but once you have enough resources to communicate, having more money doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll win the [...]
Factoid Day
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Uncategorized on January 20th, 2012
A factoid for Friday: Apple Computer–the company most “experts” expected to wither in Microsoft’s glare not all that long ago–reached a market capitalization of 400 Billion yesterday. It is the most valuable technology company in the world–worth more than Greece, Austria, Argentina or South Africa. Financial analysts and business experts will have a lot to [...]
Raining on Indianapolis’ Parade
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 19th, 2012
I don’t care for sports–especially football–and I wasn’t all that thrilled when Indianapolis won the right to host the Super Bowl. But you would have to be even more testosterone-challenged than I am not to recognize the benefits to our City that come with the selection: the local infrastructure improvements, the civic spirit, the amount [...]
Education Reform Basics
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Education / Youth on January 18th, 2012
Democrats for Education Reform is an important organization in our state. It’s composed of people–mostly, but not exclusively, Democrats–who want to approach education issues from the standpoint of what is best for children, and without the usual political constraints. (“Political constraints” in this context means automatic obeisance to the teachers’ unions. The organization is not [...]
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