Yesterday I wrote about education reform and Waiting for Superman in general terms. Today I’ll give you a more detailed review. I want to believe in public schools, but … One thing I like about the movie is that it makes clear that it isn’t just libertarian-minded economists who want structural reforms in schools. As it starts, we hear Davis Guggenheim, the film’s director, talking about his […]
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More anti-biking silliness
The Guardian of the UK reports on a politician in Colorado who sees a pro-biking scheme, and sees … a plot to bring about global government, or at least threats to personal freedoms to drive cars. Sorry, dude, but that’s just a counterproductive argument. I’m with you if you think that some cycling enthusiasts have developed delusions of a green planet. Or if you point […]
The legacy of past government action: The UMore Park
Milton Friedman is said to have quipped, “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” There’s plenty of empirical evidence for that statement, some of which is actually set in concrete, in the form of ruins on a parcel of land in the southeast corner of Minnesota’s Twin Cities metro area. If you drive in the Dakota County city of Rosemount, you’ll see abandoned […]
Life imitates political science books
Before The Clash of Civilizations, Harvard professor Samuel Huntington gained fame (or in some cases, notoriety) with his book Political Order and Changing Societies, which was first published in 1968. There’s one passage that has stuck with me ever since I read it years ago: When an organization confronts a changing environment, it must, it is to survive, weaken its commitment to its original functions. […]
Coffee at the public library
The Star-Tribune reports on one of the latest “new” developments in the Dakota County (Minnesota) library system: A space set aside for a coffee shop at the Eagan library has remained unused, 18 months after a major remodeling project of the building. There are several problems with the cafe proposal. Is the sound of coffee grinders compatible with the quiet tones of a library? Can […]
Good things CAN happen on Monday
As widely expected, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a monumental ruling this morning. As the Washington Post put it, “The Supreme Court ruled for the first time Monday that the Second Amendment provides all Americans a fundamental right to bear arms, a long-sought victory for gun rights advocates who have chafed at federal, state and local efforts to restrict gun ownership.” There’s plenty of murkiness […]
The Overton Window
The “Overton Window” has a lot of notice these days. John Miller provides some information about it here. I was privileged to have met Joe Overton on at least one occasion. The “Window” is a fine piece of analysis that would fit into any political science or sociology class dealing with changes in the public discourse concerning politics.
Saving Cleveland
Can Cleveland be saved? Reason TV investigates. Cultural amenities are nice, but policy changes are even more necessary. As Joel Kotkin say, we think that cultural amenities drive prosperity, but it’s prosperity that drives amenities.
Geekiest Football Conference? Big 10/11
Much has been made of the fact that in its shopping trip to find new members, the Big 10/11 has been committed to taking in only members of the American Association of Universities (AAU). So just what is this association? It’s a club of leading universities that do some heavy lifting on the academic front. As the “about” page says, “The 61 AAU universities in […]
Back in the self-published blogosphere
I started blogging in May, 2003, with a blogspot-hosted blog before eventually moving it Policyguy.com. Blogger and FTP did the trick. Then Google bought Blogger, which was fine–until Google announced that they were discontinuing support for the method I was using to publish. Six-plus years of blogging, kerput. So it became time to move to the PolicyGuy blog, 2.0, driven by WordPress.