Appoint Ron Paul to head the IRS

May 14, 2013

The politicization of the Internal Revenue Service is the worst kind of scandal for a president. The accusation is so simple you can tweet it, but to defend it you need a lawyer. And it comes with the post of IRS Commissioner vacant, leaving an unpopular federal agency less able to handle a widening crisis. [...]

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Much ado about Benghazi

May 14, 2013
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Guest Post: Putting the jerk in knee jerk

May 13, 2013

An educator who wishes to remain anonymous sent this column about the recent pseudo-controversy over the disqualified track athlete who did not, as it turns out, make a disallowed religious gesture. ***  When you even casually study elite society in America, you find that their tastes are vastly different than the tastes of the rest [...]

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The Week in #NotTheOnion

May 11, 2013

[View the story "May 5-11, 2013" on Storify]

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What Rick Perry can learn from California

May 10, 2013

The faux pas bordered on sedition. The Texas Association of Dairymen sent blocks of mild cheddar to state senate offices “in appreciation for your hard work this legislative session on behalf of the people of Texas.” Legislative offices often get free—and perfectly legal—swag from special interests. The problem arose when someone read the label. The [...]

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Sometimes you should meet your heroes

May 9, 2013

I became a fan of Diane Ravitch when she wrote The Language Police about the political censorship of textbooks. As you know, I write a bit about education on this blog, and that has led to me meeting Diane and getting to know her a little. I confess I’m still a little nervous around her. [...]

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UPDATE: How HB 5 won’t help the Class of 2015

May 9, 2013

The Texas legislature is poised to reduce the number of standardized tests required to graduate from high school from 15 to as few as five. This comes amid a national backlash against high-stakes testing that many parents, teachers and students argue has corrupted classroom instruction to further a false dogma. While these critics are hailing [...]

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If you can’t tell the truth, there’s always Plan B

May 9, 2013

Yesterday I got to debate an anti-choice activist about Plan B emergency contraception because it is now available to women as young as 15. I think this is great, but the anti-abortion activist disagreed, saying that Plan B is dangerous and will put girls in the hospital. After the cameras were off, she challenged me [...]

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