From The Papers: Further Amateurish Reactions To The World
Canada: The New United States, And Not In A Good Way
A climate meeting opened in South Africa on Monday, in the face of the upcoming expiration of the environmental commitments from the Kyoto Protocol. Against this backdrop, it is reported that Canada will announce a formal withdrawal from the accord next month. Really, Canada? What happened? I used to look up to you, both literally and figuratively. Oh, that's right, Harper happened. Trust me, Canada, being an international douchebag might look like fun from where you're standing, but it's not all it's cracked up to be.
College Campus Revolutions
UC Santa Cruz students and faculty staged a protest of the pepper-spraying of UC Davis students and proposed tuition fee hikes. Where to begin with this?
1) UC Davis needs to out and out fire the police officers responsible, but the question is, should it be done publicly, or should they be allowed to slip away into the night? A public shaming might trigger unfortunate responses, but would anything less than a public revelation satisfy the outrage over this particular episode? Either way, this incident must follow the officers should they attempt to apply for new jobs in law enforcement. I'm usually one to allow for extenuating circumstances and second chances, but there are no extenuating circumstances in this case, and therefore, no second chances.
2) As for the tuition hikes, yes, education is getting extremely unaffordable, and that's damaging to our society in so many ways, both in the moment and in the future. A photo of the Santa Cruz protest showed a chalked message that "Education Is A Right, Not A Privilege." Education should certainly not be only for the privileged few, but the question of whether it is a right is a little trickier. Much as one's civil liberties under the Bill of Rights, such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, are always limited by the rights of others to not be harmed and not have their rights infringed upon, the right to education is heavily contingent on the availability of resources. The universal ideal would be free education for all, but there is no such thing as a free lunch. Resources are needed. To use a physics metaphor, there must be potential energy in order to create kinetic energy, and life tends towards entropy.
This doesn't mean we shouldn't fight for resources, but going after the UC Regents may not be the proper approach. The regents certainly deserve criticism, and it is all well and good to make them sign a pledge that they would fight to raise taxes on the wealthy, close corporate loopholes and and end Prop. 13, but that's no more than a symbolic action. This is certainly a strong message and a coherent plan of action, but it should be targeted at Sacramento.
It is also an issue of national significance. Our priorities are wrong:instead of corporate bailouts, the money should be reinvested in education. Let the free market determine what corporations succeed; corporations that fail should dissolve and try again with a new model. Meanwhile, if we invested in education, we would be spurring the growth and development of a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs, creating actual 'job creators' and qualifying people to fill those jobs.
What? Another Herman Cain Allegation? I'm Shocked. Shocked.
The AP describes 'an explosive allegation' in which a Georgia woman said she and Herman Cain had a thirteen year affair. Really, at this point, I think it would be more explosive news if someone came forward and said they had NOT had an affair with or been harassed by Herman Cain.
Cain denied it, but a statement from his lawyer did not repeat a denial, but instead basically said that the public and the media had no business snooping into the details of consensual conduct between adults. In general, that's true, but when you are running for president, you are no longer quite the same private individual, and your judgment must be called in to question. Whether or not he had an affair is not really a major issue except between Cain and his wife, but harassment allegations are an entirely different ballgame. Especially when you imply that God told you to run for the Presidency.
On a purely political level, does one's past mean that one can't be an effective leader? I would say no. Look at Bill Clinton. But it is important for us to be able to respect our leaders.
So yes, it is theoretically possible that Herman Cain would be a good president. But no, he wouldn't be. He's just crazy, and kind of slimy.
How The World Has Turned
A gay softball organization has had to pay an undisclosed sum of money to three players who were disqualified from the 2008 Gay Softball World Series because they were perceived to be too heterosexual, as they were bisexual.
First of all, I had no idea there was such a thing as a Gay Softball World Series. I think that is spectacular.
Second of all, I don't know why, but this strikes me as really very funny.
A climate meeting opened in South Africa on Monday, in the face of the upcoming expiration of the environmental commitments from the Kyoto Protocol. Against this backdrop, it is reported that Canada will announce a formal withdrawal from the accord next month. Really, Canada? What happened? I used to look up to you, both literally and figuratively. Oh, that's right, Harper happened. Trust me, Canada, being an international douchebag might look like fun from where you're standing, but it's not all it's cracked up to be.
College Campus Revolutions
UC Santa Cruz students and faculty staged a protest of the pepper-spraying of UC Davis students and proposed tuition fee hikes. Where to begin with this?
1) UC Davis needs to out and out fire the police officers responsible, but the question is, should it be done publicly, or should they be allowed to slip away into the night? A public shaming might trigger unfortunate responses, but would anything less than a public revelation satisfy the outrage over this particular episode? Either way, this incident must follow the officers should they attempt to apply for new jobs in law enforcement. I'm usually one to allow for extenuating circumstances and second chances, but there are no extenuating circumstances in this case, and therefore, no second chances.
2) As for the tuition hikes, yes, education is getting extremely unaffordable, and that's damaging to our society in so many ways, both in the moment and in the future. A photo of the Santa Cruz protest showed a chalked message that "Education Is A Right, Not A Privilege." Education should certainly not be only for the privileged few, but the question of whether it is a right is a little trickier. Much as one's civil liberties under the Bill of Rights, such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, are always limited by the rights of others to not be harmed and not have their rights infringed upon, the right to education is heavily contingent on the availability of resources. The universal ideal would be free education for all, but there is no such thing as a free lunch. Resources are needed. To use a physics metaphor, there must be potential energy in order to create kinetic energy, and life tends towards entropy.
This doesn't mean we shouldn't fight for resources, but going after the UC Regents may not be the proper approach. The regents certainly deserve criticism, and it is all well and good to make them sign a pledge that they would fight to raise taxes on the wealthy, close corporate loopholes and and end Prop. 13, but that's no more than a symbolic action. This is certainly a strong message and a coherent plan of action, but it should be targeted at Sacramento.
It is also an issue of national significance. Our priorities are wrong:instead of corporate bailouts, the money should be reinvested in education. Let the free market determine what corporations succeed; corporations that fail should dissolve and try again with a new model. Meanwhile, if we invested in education, we would be spurring the growth and development of a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs, creating actual 'job creators' and qualifying people to fill those jobs.
What? Another Herman Cain Allegation? I'm Shocked. Shocked.
The AP describes 'an explosive allegation' in which a Georgia woman said she and Herman Cain had a thirteen year affair. Really, at this point, I think it would be more explosive news if someone came forward and said they had NOT had an affair with or been harassed by Herman Cain.
Cain denied it, but a statement from his lawyer did not repeat a denial, but instead basically said that the public and the media had no business snooping into the details of consensual conduct between adults. In general, that's true, but when you are running for president, you are no longer quite the same private individual, and your judgment must be called in to question. Whether or not he had an affair is not really a major issue except between Cain and his wife, but harassment allegations are an entirely different ballgame. Especially when you imply that God told you to run for the Presidency.
On a purely political level, does one's past mean that one can't be an effective leader? I would say no. Look at Bill Clinton. But it is important for us to be able to respect our leaders.
So yes, it is theoretically possible that Herman Cain would be a good president. But no, he wouldn't be. He's just crazy, and kind of slimy.
How The World Has Turned
A gay softball organization has had to pay an undisclosed sum of money to three players who were disqualified from the 2008 Gay Softball World Series because they were perceived to be too heterosexual, as they were bisexual.
First of all, I had no idea there was such a thing as a Gay Softball World Series. I think that is spectacular.
Second of all, I don't know why, but this strikes me as really very funny.
Labels: Canada As Wannabe Douchebag, education, environmentalism, gay softball, newspapers, politics, student protests
posted by Devin at 11:11 AM
4 Comments:
I agree that we need to readjust both the costs and availability of higher education, but I think we also need to reform the way we look at education in general. One of the reasons university tuitions are up so much is because they can be -- going to college and getting a degree to get a white collar job is drilled into our heads as the one true path (or at least it was in my community!) Devaluing trades makes it depressingly easy to devalue tradespeople, most of whom have highly technical skills that can't be replaced without training. I will admit that watching Mike Rowe's speech to congress about this colored my views a bit, but I grew up in a construction family -- my father was a construction worker who eventually opened his own successful general contracting firm, and we worked on huge biotech jobs in Boston. I worked day in and day out with workers and they were so good at what they did. That definitely changes how I view things!
That's a very good point, Annie. I did not intend to imply any denigration of tradespeople. That is certainly a valid and valuable path, and yes, we should expand our understanding of the term education. I would agree with you that studying a trade is as much of an education as anything academic. But for those who wish to pursue an academic path, that should be facilitated as much as possible. And you are right that the university world is profit-driven--look at college football. Schools make thousands of dollars from athletes, and then the athletes get punished when they take kickbacks.
Oh man, I am sorry, I definitely didn't direct the part about devaluing trades at you! I agree with what you are saying completely, and just meant to add on to it, since I think society's uneven value system is a symptom of the whole problem. I value the education I have so much, and I would love to go back to school because I enjoy the process.
Uneven values? I don't know what you're talking about. Now, let me get done talking about the crazy kids sitting around en masse for education so I go join the hordes thronging into a Target or Best Buy to spend, spend, spend.
And no worries, I wasn't thinking you were saying I was denigrating tradespeople.
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