I Know What He Is But What Is She

Bob Herbert skates boldly onto the thin ice with his lead:

While watching the Sarah Palin interview with Charlie Gibson Thursday night, and the coverage of the Palin phenomenon in general, I’ve gotten the scary feeling, for the first time in my life, that dimwittedness is not just on the march in the U.S., but that it might actually prevail.

I'm in sympathy here - I get that same feeling every time I read a Herbert column.

Ms. Palin may be a perfectly competent and reasonably intelligent woman (however troubling her views on evolution and global warming may be), but she is not ready to be vice president.

And what does he imagine her view on evolution to be?  The Times reported this:

She has supported the teaching of intelligent design in public schools, alongside evolution.

But that is false.  A bit later:

I feel for Ms. Palin’s son who has been shipped off to the war in Iraq. But at his deployment ceremony, which was on the same day as the Charlie Gibson interview, Sept. 11, she told the audience of soldiers that they would be fighting “the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.”

Was she deliberately falsifying history, or does she still not know that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks?

My goodness, does Bob Herbert not know that, despite their near-total absence there on 9/11, Al Qaeda is so well represented in Iraq that today they call themselves (in a breach of security) Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia? Does he not realize that US troops still fight them in Iraq?  Even the WaPo, which launched this absurd smear, backpedaled.

Dim indeed.

Comments

[Captain Hate]

If the paying customer doesn't like the course, he can drop it and find a more congenial professor.

You state this way too breezily as somebody on the supply side; drop/adds are always a pain because you have to incorporate an alternative class that has an opening within a possibly crowded schedule. Plus you're already behind. More to the point would be word of mouth would lead future students to know what to expect.

[nlcatter]

how white is Minnesota?

DUH you frigging morons!

[BobS]

HMI: I appreciate your interesting comments. As a HS Biology teacher in Florida we were faced with a potential mandate last year to include ID in our curriculum. Our current textbook does not have it although the previous textbook had a seperate brief section that recognized ID.

At any rate, the other Biology teachers in our department are people of faith(like me) who have no trouble leaving ID out of our curriculum. We consider ourselves scientists and advocates of the scientific method which builds theories in science.

If I may digress a bit, this touches on one of the concerns I have about the Obama-Ayers-Klonsky educational motives via CAC. They sought to promote activist organizations to circumvent traditional school leadership councils which include members of the community, school boards, administrations, teachers and students.

In Florida, the state establishes educational standards that all schools abide by. State level testing also influences operation withing these stanards. Obama-Ayers-Klonsky sought to bypass already established relationships and mandate their own peculiar methods of education.

One example is a lesson planning based on social injustice in all domains. Klonsky sites in his own blog a San Fancisco group which uses social injustice as basis for lesson plans in math.

[BobS]

nl:

Your race baiting is only effective in your own little world of looney left sites. FYI, Minnesota has gone Democrat during the last two presidential election cycles.

[Porchlight]

If the paying customer doesn't like the course, he can drop it and find a more congenial professor.

Would that paying customers a/k/a "parents" could do the same with the education their children are receiving in public schools. Does this mean you are an advocate for vouchers?

[PeterUK]

"If the paying customer doesn't like the course, he can drop it and find a more congenial professor."

As you are no doubt aware,professors can make life living hell for students and have all kinds of malicious options open to them.Things are not as easy as you would portray.

[kim]

nicatter, you don't seem to understand that it isn't race causing the present momentum shift. Why would race be important now when it wasn't before? Think, man, think.
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[Porchlight]

Not to mention that there is often no alternative course to take. I work with faculty and their syllabi all day long and if there are conservative professors at my university, I have yet to see evidence of them. (Large land-grant university in a large red state, btw.)

[kim]

By the way, nicatter, you're a racist, and think and talk like one. So, incidentally, is Obama.

One little phenomenon that you don't seem to understand is that given the level of political correctedness in this country over the last 20 years, right wingers have had to think through their political ideas to justify them. You lefties have just drifted with the herd and are unable to think for yourselves. This gives us a natural OODA loop advantage. The performance envelope of your ideology is designed for dropping heavy loads and not for nimble rhetoric.
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[nlcatter]

Im a racist ? so which race do I think superior you fucking moron!

[nlcatter]

shift? I did not say it was causing any shift

I say Obama was doomed from start due to white RACISTS like you

and I knwo them well.

[nlcatter]

DUH there wasnt a BLACK running in the last 2 cycles!

you are shagging MORON

[kim]

Highly amusing. Let's see, shoot now, or watch him flame out by himself. Decisions, decisions.
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[PeterUK]

"you are shagging MORON".

I don't think Kim would touch you with a barge pole.

[BobS]

Poor nl has terminal disease of leftism. The symptoms are constant name-calling, hysterical use of profanity, calling into question an opposing viewers intelligence, and off course the utilization of race as a tool.

[BobS]

I must say that I'm unfamiliar with the term, "shagging" as its used by nl. Can someone help?

[PeterUK]

"Shagging" is a vernacular expression copulation.I doubt if nic understands as nic is obviously a soloist.

[BobS]

thank you, PUK

[kim]

Shagging is fine as a noun, but nitwit's use of it here as an adjective is awkward. It's a product of his incoherence rather than of elegant style.
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[HMI]

No, dropping a course is not without hassle, but if you drop, then the prof. is pretty much out of your life. Returning a lawnmower to Sears is pretty annoying, too. If there is no alternative course, then you can change universities. "Free market" in no way guarantees the availability of any particular product.
FWIW, I'm generally in favor of vouchers, along with the death of the NEA, the AFT and the Texas Depository. Some days I think about abolishing public education entirely—would that be free market enough?

[BobS]

Perhaps I'm an animal that most conservatives dont realize exist - a conservative, pro-union teacher. I've been to the private school level and its not the panacea most conservatives believe it is.

[Porchlight]

Thanks for your response, HMI. You make a good point. It's all very well to say "change universities," but given the huge costs involved, I think you must realize the inefficiencies of the market in that situation.

[BobS]

True privatization of education won't come with a federal department of ed.

Hopefully this statement assurse my conservative bonefides.

[sbw]

Anyone who uses Howard Zinn in a classroom is suspect, not for being of any particular political stripe, but for buying into a writer whose selective disregard for evidence shows no regard for serving an accurate representation of what happened. Bad science does not belong in a classroom.

It is one of the few books -- a book on tape actually -- that I destroyed rather than let some other sucker fall victim to it, and I usually donate my tapes to our library.

[Good Lt.]

For semanticlod, from FactCheck's front page:

OBAMA PLAYS FAST AND LOOSE WITH FACTS, but since semanticlod is an O!bot, he ignores it:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/school_funding_misleads.html

MSM/Leftwing/Obama false smears of Palin:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sliming_palin.html

Obama playing fast and loose with McCain's votes...again:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/hit_the_brakes.html

[Captain Hate]

Perhaps I'm an animal that most conservatives dont realize exist - a conservative, pro-union teacher. I've been to the private school level and its not the panacea most conservatives believe it is.

I've read your comments with great interest and respect BobS; and hope that I haven't given you any offense with some of my broadsides. I've been on both sides of the coin with one daughter having attended public schools and the other a private one. Even though it cost me out the ass to send my younger one to a private school, it was money well-spent and I wished that my other daughter would've done likewise because she would've received a better education and wouldn't had to have used a tutor in college for the English skills that were neglected. That isn't to say that she didn't have some excellent teachers at the public school; in fact her calculus teacher was perhaps the best either of my children experienced.

That's not to say that I don't have a great deal of sympathy with most public school teachers; I doubt that I could deal with the task of trying to teach children that come from families that don't value education and view schools as a temporary dumping ground for their offspring. Also the financing of schools through property taxes is an 18th century concept that oddly stays in place.

I don't understand the second sentence you quoted. If you're saying that not all private schools are on the same level I'd agree. Or are you saying that poor students in public schools would be poor students in a private school because I'd agree with that too. Or is it something else. btw based on your comments I've always considered you a conservative and an excellent teacher.

[nlcatter]

the word is used a adverb, you bloody MORON!

[nlcatter]

you dont know what shagging is?

ok, here - you are a fucking racist.

[Cecil Turner]

. . . the word is used a adverb . . .

Did you mean to write it "shaggingly" (as in: "he voted shaggingly for the white boy")? If not, I'd lighten up on the "MORON" stuff if I were you.

[M. Simon]

We desperately need a better class of trolls. I swear, I'm missing leo already. At least he could do complete sentences without swearing.

[M. Simon]

BobS,

Perhaps I'm an animal that most conservatives dont realize exist - a conservative, pro-union teacher. I've been to the private school level and its not the panacea most conservatives believe it is.

Of course not. What we need is a voucher system where parents can choose their children's schools.

That sort of is in effect with the gifted program in my town. Not too different from the gifted program I grew up with.

The trouble is that if your kids are B or C students they have no choice.

However, the real deal is that if schools can't fail they have no incentive to improve.

[M. Simon]

BobS,

There is a simple way to deal with ID. Show why it is not part of the scientific method.

[M. Simon]

HMI,

When I was younger I often used massive doses of vitamin C as an antibiotic. It works. From time to time I still use it that way. Like antibiotics you have to keep it up for three days to a week. I have found 1 gram an hour to be effective.

I have no experience with it re:colds.

[M. Simon]

HMI,

As we get a better understanding of genetics ID will fade.

Simply: as ignorance fades so do magical explanations.

And yet I'm still a believer in the Force. I have a sense of where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing. As if there was a guiding hand. It may be just my touch of schizophrenia. But it works for me. Years in advance some times.

[nick]

Fuck·ing
Function: adjective or adverb

When used about You it can be a adverb.

[Cecil Turner]

When used about You it can be a adverb.

Dude, "you" is a pronoun. Adjectives modify pronouns, adverbs modify verbs.

Normally I wouldn't opine on this sort of thing, because I'm a dumb ex-Jarhead with a math/science background . . . but this ain't rocket surgery (or brain science) and it looked like you could use some help.

Cheers.

[kim]

Noun, participle, adjective, whatever. Sure you used it as an adjective. I say you used it awkwardly, in a manner not commonly used. But adverb? Is this a shagging dog story as in 'you screwed the pooch'?
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[BR]

Hi - what's all this fiddle-fucking around with a troll :)

[nick]

its a colloquism you fucking moron

i means you are from Austria