Really, you just can't make this stuff up. From ABC News, today.
ABC News Jonathan Karl reports:
The newfound civility didn’t last long. Political rhetoric in Congress doesn’t get much nastier than the words of one House Democrat during the debate on repealing the health care law.
In an extraordinary outburst on the House floor, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) invoked the Holocaust to attack Republicans on health care and compared rhetoric on the issue to the work of infamous Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
“They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels," Cohen said. "You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That's the same kind of thing. And Congressman Cohen didn’t stop there.
The Germans said enough about the Jews and people believed it--believed it and you have the Holocaust. We heard on this floor, government takeover of health care. Politifact said the biggest lie of 2010 was a government takeover of health care because there is no government takeover," Cohen said.
Cohen made his comments late last night, but they have attracted no attention because his speech was made to a virtually empty House chamber with no reporters around to watch.
Well, someone was present to pass it along. OS believes it would be a good thing for this little gem to circulate and circulate and circulate, especially through the ranks of the Tennessee legislature charged with apportioning districts based upon the 2010 census. For the first time since post-Civil War Reconstruction, Tennessee has a Republican governor, a Republican House, and a Republican Senate, and large majorities in both houses. Time to begin cleaning up over 140 years of mess left behind by the Democrats.
The Congressional Districts of Tennessee are obvious Democrat gerrymanders, which finally failed to produce the expected results in 2010, because the voters outside of Memphis and Nashville had finally had enough, and the old-boy Dems got out of Dodge before they had to face the voters.
Memphis is a classic 'rotten borough', essentially ceded to the Democrats since the days of the Crump machine. It is a dependency of the Welfare State. The crime is awful. The corruption is rampant, and has long been blatant. OS has visited there on days when the racial tension was so thick that no blacks and whites would even look one another in the eye at the grocery checkout line.
Steve Cohen is a proud product of that machine.
When Memphis sneezes, West Tennessee gets a cold. OS thinks it's time that Greater Memphis (including good portions of Germantown and Cordoba, to where the middle class fled to avoid the crime and decay) should be included in the Congressional district that the Hon. Mr. Cohen would find himself attempting to win in 2012. Things would get interestinger and interestinger for him in a non-fixed election.
This speech is, well, shameful. Has one Democrat at either state or Federal level stepped up to disavow those remarks, and scold Cohen in public? Miz Nancy, you there? Paul Krugman? Former Governor Bredesen? Former Speaker Naifeh? Former State Senator Roy Herron? Anybody?
Don't hold yer breath waiting fer it, ya'll. Cohen is the face of the Tennessee Democrat Party, in full flower. Listen and judge.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Katherine Birbalsingh Weighs In On Amy Chua's 'Tiger Mother'
OS knew she would join in, sooner or later.
She has much to say that most white, comfortable, middle-class soccer-mom-football-dad parents don't wish to hear. The only path to true success in life (not just an SUV and a MacMansion) is hard work, and those habits are learned at home, taught by parents.
Like Amy Chua, my father never patted me on the back when I would get 95 per cent on a test. He would always ask, “What happened to the other 5 per cent?” As a child, it is true, I was constantly frustrated: what on earth did I have to do to please this man? But what that constant frustration inspired in me was to always try my best, to always reach for the very top. And as Amy Chua constantly emphasises, just because a parent is a bit demanding, doesn’t mean there isn’t any love. My parents were not as demanding as Amy Chua, and as such, my sister and I were allowed to watch television. When “Different Strokes” came on, (with Arnold and Willis as black boys adopted by a rich white man) my sister and I would call for my father with delight, and he would always come and watch it with us. That is, until he decided that we were watching too much television, and as if he and Amy Chua had connived together, gave our only television away.
Such parenting techniques are relatively rare in white liberal circles. And these days, with our multicultural communities, they are becoming more and more rare in non-white circles as well. But while ‘tough love” may be the answer to giving our black boys a chance at life, so often the liberal helping hand undermines the parents who are trying to give these boys exactly this.
My Guyanese father may seem excessive to some but he sent his daughters to very ordinary state schools and had to make up for their shortcomings. And Amy Chua may be a little extreme in her parenting style, so much so that she has caused huge controversy. But if I had any advice to give to the thousands of struggling parents I have known over the years, the first thing I’d tell them is to take a page out of Amy Chua’s book and think twice about the liberal madness that surrounds us.
Lissen' up ya'll!! Ms. Birbalsingh's daddy emigrated from Guyana--look it up on the map--and sent his little girl to OXFORD! No, no, no. Not Oxford, Mississippi, that land of SEC basketball, bubbahs and drunken co-eds. The real Oxford--the one in England! THAT Oxford!
The one that's damn near impossible to get into, unless you have a real intellect and a work ethic like Monica Marks, the girl from Eastern Kentucky whose daddy insisted his baby girl was gonna succeed, come hell or high water.
That Oxford.
Thanks, Ms. B, for chiming in. Don't you let up a bit--keep after those 'liberals' who use an ideology to simply mask their laziness.
Here's hoping the conversation continues. The question is central to the survival of our culture.
OS has so much more to say, but he has work to do. University bills to pay, with the biggest grin imaginable on his grizzled Southern face...someday, he'll even get to tell you why.
She has much to say that most white, comfortable, middle-class soccer-mom-football-dad parents don't wish to hear. The only path to true success in life (not just an SUV and a MacMansion) is hard work, and those habits are learned at home, taught by parents.
Like Amy Chua, my father never patted me on the back when I would get 95 per cent on a test. He would always ask, “What happened to the other 5 per cent?” As a child, it is true, I was constantly frustrated: what on earth did I have to do to please this man? But what that constant frustration inspired in me was to always try my best, to always reach for the very top. And as Amy Chua constantly emphasises, just because a parent is a bit demanding, doesn’t mean there isn’t any love. My parents were not as demanding as Amy Chua, and as such, my sister and I were allowed to watch television. When “Different Strokes” came on, (with Arnold and Willis as black boys adopted by a rich white man) my sister and I would call for my father with delight, and he would always come and watch it with us. That is, until he decided that we were watching too much television, and as if he and Amy Chua had connived together, gave our only television away.
Such parenting techniques are relatively rare in white liberal circles. And these days, with our multicultural communities, they are becoming more and more rare in non-white circles as well. But while ‘tough love” may be the answer to giving our black boys a chance at life, so often the liberal helping hand undermines the parents who are trying to give these boys exactly this.
My Guyanese father may seem excessive to some but he sent his daughters to very ordinary state schools and had to make up for their shortcomings. And Amy Chua may be a little extreme in her parenting style, so much so that she has caused huge controversy. But if I had any advice to give to the thousands of struggling parents I have known over the years, the first thing I’d tell them is to take a page out of Amy Chua’s book and think twice about the liberal madness that surrounds us.
Lissen' up ya'll!! Ms. Birbalsingh's daddy emigrated from Guyana--look it up on the map--and sent his little girl to OXFORD! No, no, no. Not Oxford, Mississippi, that land of SEC basketball, bubbahs and drunken co-eds. The real Oxford--the one in England! THAT Oxford!
The one that's damn near impossible to get into, unless you have a real intellect and a work ethic like Monica Marks, the girl from Eastern Kentucky whose daddy insisted his baby girl was gonna succeed, come hell or high water.
That Oxford.
Thanks, Ms. B, for chiming in. Don't you let up a bit--keep after those 'liberals' who use an ideology to simply mask their laziness.
Here's hoping the conversation continues. The question is central to the survival of our culture.
OS has so much more to say, but he has work to do. University bills to pay, with the biggest grin imaginable on his grizzled Southern face...someday, he'll even get to tell you why.
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Tiger Mother Conversation Continues With And About Amy Chua
It's getting interesting out there.
New York Times weighs in.
In the week since The Wall Street Journal published an excerpt of the new book by Amy Chua, a Yale law professor, under the headline “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” Ms. Chua has received death threats, she says, and “hundreds, hundreds” of e-mails. The excerpt generated more than 5,000 comments on the newspaper’s Web site, and countless blog entries referring in shorthand to “that Tiger Mother.” Some argued that the parents of all those Asians among Harvard’s chosen few must be doing something right; many called Ms. Chua a “monster” or “nuts” — and a very savvy provocateur.
From academe, Mama PhD wrings her hands a bit, because as a therapist, she gets to deal with the damaged adult children of over-the-top parents. And, she has points to make as well.
At least, and at last, Dr. Chua's book is getting a real debate going about an issue no one wants to talk about--the hard grind that successful parenting truly is, whether one is a Tiger Mom or not.
In fairness, (and since OS's copy has not yet arrived), it is good to note the extended subtitle of the book.
This is a story about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs.
This was supposed to be a story of how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones.
But instead, it's about a bitter clash of cultures, a fleeting taste of glory, and how I was humbled by a thirteen-year-old.
OS is so happy to see the discussion taking place. Keep it up, ever'body!
New York Times weighs in.
In the week since The Wall Street Journal published an excerpt of the new book by Amy Chua, a Yale law professor, under the headline “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” Ms. Chua has received death threats, she says, and “hundreds, hundreds” of e-mails. The excerpt generated more than 5,000 comments on the newspaper’s Web site, and countless blog entries referring in shorthand to “that Tiger Mother.” Some argued that the parents of all those Asians among Harvard’s chosen few must be doing something right; many called Ms. Chua a “monster” or “nuts” — and a very savvy provocateur.
From academe, Mama PhD wrings her hands a bit, because as a therapist, she gets to deal with the damaged adult children of over-the-top parents. And, she has points to make as well.
At least, and at last, Dr. Chua's book is getting a real debate going about an issue no one wants to talk about--the hard grind that successful parenting truly is, whether one is a Tiger Mom or not.
In fairness, (and since OS's copy has not yet arrived), it is good to note the extended subtitle of the book.
This is a story about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs.
This was supposed to be a story of how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones.
But instead, it's about a bitter clash of cultures, a fleeting taste of glory, and how I was humbled by a thirteen-year-old.
OS is so happy to see the discussion taking place. Keep it up, ever'body!
10,000 GMAC Foreclosures Stopped Dead In Their Tracks--By A Group Of Law Students
HT Denninger.
If the fraud is so obvious that law students can convince a court of it, then all those sharks attempting to foreclose homes with robo-signature docs, and no proof of who owes what to whom are in some deep doo-doo. As is GMAC, which is a Ward of the State.
This makes for entertaining reading, and will make for interesting times once the implications play out. That's two states in one week, both of them Deep Blue, with the courts just saying no to perjured documents.
Remember when GMAC was melting down? It was an auto-finance company that decided it was a mortgage lender. Then when it needed money to stay alive, presto-chango, the Treasury and Da Fed decided it was a friggin' bank! Even has a front--Ally Bank--that runs goofy ads, pretending to be a bank. It's still GMAC, and it's still an insolvent scam. That we will end up eating the losses on.
One person (who appears to speak from the political Left) left a comment on the article is worth quoting, and he cuts straight to the ethical heart of the matter:
Instead of helping the distressed homeowners whose lives are being ruthlessly and systematically ripped apart by the criminal banks, the President had the unmitigated gall to accelerate and facilitate the unlawful forfeitures by the banks with his incredibly bogus HAMP program and then topped that disgraceful act by blaming the victimized homeowners for causing the crisis.
What kind of a man is Obama who would dare to use a nine-year-old dead girl as a stage prop to make a point about the need for civility in our dealings with others during a national speech, when he is assisting the criminal banks to steal millions of homes in the United States...?
What kind of a society are we when the only people fighting for justice are law professors and their students working for free?
At least, sir, we have them. And, there is a glimmer of hope out there, if these folks are willing to take on a GMAC.
Next time you donate and vote, sir, remember this day and these events.
Now, let's make certain Congress does not again cave, and come to the rescue of the criminals. The full court press will begin shortly.
If the fraud is so obvious that law students can convince a court of it, then all those sharks attempting to foreclose homes with robo-signature docs, and no proof of who owes what to whom are in some deep doo-doo. As is GMAC, which is a Ward of the State.
This makes for entertaining reading, and will make for interesting times once the implications play out. That's two states in one week, both of them Deep Blue, with the courts just saying no to perjured documents.
Remember when GMAC was melting down? It was an auto-finance company that decided it was a mortgage lender. Then when it needed money to stay alive, presto-chango, the Treasury and Da Fed decided it was a friggin' bank! Even has a front--Ally Bank--that runs goofy ads, pretending to be a bank. It's still GMAC, and it's still an insolvent scam. That we will end up eating the losses on.
One person (who appears to speak from the political Left) left a comment on the article is worth quoting, and he cuts straight to the ethical heart of the matter:
Instead of helping the distressed homeowners whose lives are being ruthlessly and systematically ripped apart by the criminal banks, the President had the unmitigated gall to accelerate and facilitate the unlawful forfeitures by the banks with his incredibly bogus HAMP program and then topped that disgraceful act by blaming the victimized homeowners for causing the crisis.
What kind of a man is Obama who would dare to use a nine-year-old dead girl as a stage prop to make a point about the need for civility in our dealings with others during a national speech, when he is assisting the criminal banks to steal millions of homes in the United States...?
What kind of a society are we when the only people fighting for justice are law professors and their students working for free?
At least, sir, we have them. And, there is a glimmer of hope out there, if these folks are willing to take on a GMAC.
Next time you donate and vote, sir, remember this day and these events.
Now, let's make certain Congress does not again cave, and come to the rescue of the criminals. The full court press will begin shortly.
OS Attends A Wedding, Sees A Ghost, And Is Inspired By Mrs. Ben Hogan
Well, not technically a ghost, the disembodied spirit of a departed person.But it was the next best thing.
The wedding itself was lovely this weekend. Not over-the-top, but elegant and lovely in the best sense of the words. Fabulous music, dignified church wedding.
Before the proceedings began, OS encountered an Old Acquaintance, who had married within two months of his wedding to the lovely Mrs. OS. He barely recognized the lady. Her marriage of twenty years had unraveled, and a family member was moving her stuff out of the house while she was at the wedding. Twenty years, child-rearing, built a business with the husband, kept the home fires burning as he traveled, on and on and on; and Bubbah-Hubby has traded her in for someone younger, dumber, and blonder. Twenty years earlier, Bubbah-Hubby had traded the previous one in for her. (Trophy Wife is a tough profession.) Old Acquaintance has lost thirty pounds, and she was never an ounce overweight to begin with. She had that look of someone who suddenly ages a decade. It was like seeing a ghost. It was disturbing.
After the wedding, Mrs. OS wanted to go out for dinner, and OS was delighted to oblige. She picked her favorite quiet bistro, and ordered the best steak, done just-so.
Anything she wants, she can have, by golly.
Some of the conversation was about the encounter at the wedding. It took a while for OS to calm down, and for reason to return. But for a while it was all 'How could he? How could she not have seen this outcome? Now what? How could he? What went wrong? How could he? What was he thinking? How could he?'
Mrs. OS was actually more lucid, reminding her husband that (1.) No, he had never even contemplated engaging in this behavior, and (2.) She had every reason to believe that he would never do this, and she wasn't worried. She wanted to make sure her husband felt appreciated. And, he does. He wakes every morning so grateful to have her, amazed that she's tolerated him all these years.
But, still, it was disturbing.
By contrast and coincidence, OS had checked a book out of the library the day before, Ben Hogan: The Man Behind The Mystique.
Actually, in great part it is about the marriage behind Hogan behind the mystique. So much of what he accomplished in public was made possible in private by his extraordinary marriage. He and Valerie met when she was fourteen, and they knew from the outset that they each had found their soulmate. They waited until young adulthood to marry, her family almost adopting him in the meantime. It was a loving, devoted, happy marriage for over sixty-five years. She traveled with him on the tour, long before it was common. He was golf's most single-minded and devoted student, and many many days were spent practicing. She never begrudged him, because she knew it was his only other passion beside her, and he wanted to live up to her faith in him by always doing his best. When the fateful car crash nearly took them both, he shielded her body from the collision of the oncoming passenger bus, an act which saved both their lives. When he nearly died of complications, and needed a particular surgeon, she went to the phone and called in favors from friends. The Army scrambled both the surgeon and the plane for the surgeon overnight. They were fiercely loyal one to the other, devoted to the very end of both their lives. You'll have to read the book to know the happiest of endings to this love story.
Now, that's a marriage! A story left untold until both had passed. But what an impact for good these two had upon their world.
Bubbah-Hubby just don't git it. OS's Old Acquaintance might yet, but at a terrible price.
In the meantime, OS is so grateful to have his own Valerie, and hopes someday he can be just a bit like Ben. She deserves no less.
The wedding itself was lovely this weekend. Not over-the-top, but elegant and lovely in the best sense of the words. Fabulous music, dignified church wedding.
Before the proceedings began, OS encountered an Old Acquaintance, who had married within two months of his wedding to the lovely Mrs. OS. He barely recognized the lady. Her marriage of twenty years had unraveled, and a family member was moving her stuff out of the house while she was at the wedding. Twenty years, child-rearing, built a business with the husband, kept the home fires burning as he traveled, on and on and on; and Bubbah-Hubby has traded her in for someone younger, dumber, and blonder. Twenty years earlier, Bubbah-Hubby had traded the previous one in for her. (Trophy Wife is a tough profession.) Old Acquaintance has lost thirty pounds, and she was never an ounce overweight to begin with. She had that look of someone who suddenly ages a decade. It was like seeing a ghost. It was disturbing.
After the wedding, Mrs. OS wanted to go out for dinner, and OS was delighted to oblige. She picked her favorite quiet bistro, and ordered the best steak, done just-so.
Anything she wants, she can have, by golly.
Some of the conversation was about the encounter at the wedding. It took a while for OS to calm down, and for reason to return. But for a while it was all 'How could he? How could she not have seen this outcome? Now what? How could he? What went wrong? How could he? What was he thinking? How could he?'
Mrs. OS was actually more lucid, reminding her husband that (1.) No, he had never even contemplated engaging in this behavior, and (2.) She had every reason to believe that he would never do this, and she wasn't worried. She wanted to make sure her husband felt appreciated. And, he does. He wakes every morning so grateful to have her, amazed that she's tolerated him all these years.
But, still, it was disturbing.
By contrast and coincidence, OS had checked a book out of the library the day before, Ben Hogan: The Man Behind The Mystique.
Actually, in great part it is about the marriage behind Hogan behind the mystique. So much of what he accomplished in public was made possible in private by his extraordinary marriage. He and Valerie met when she was fourteen, and they knew from the outset that they each had found their soulmate. They waited until young adulthood to marry, her family almost adopting him in the meantime. It was a loving, devoted, happy marriage for over sixty-five years. She traveled with him on the tour, long before it was common. He was golf's most single-minded and devoted student, and many many days were spent practicing. She never begrudged him, because she knew it was his only other passion beside her, and he wanted to live up to her faith in him by always doing his best. When the fateful car crash nearly took them both, he shielded her body from the collision of the oncoming passenger bus, an act which saved both their lives. When he nearly died of complications, and needed a particular surgeon, she went to the phone and called in favors from friends. The Army scrambled both the surgeon and the plane for the surgeon overnight. They were fiercely loyal one to the other, devoted to the very end of both their lives. You'll have to read the book to know the happiest of endings to this love story.
Now, that's a marriage! A story left untold until both had passed. But what an impact for good these two had upon their world.
Bubbah-Hubby just don't git it. OS's Old Acquaintance might yet, but at a terrible price.
In the meantime, OS is so grateful to have his own Valerie, and hopes someday he can be just a bit like Ben. She deserves no less.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
In Case You Ever Wonder Where Italian Composers Get Their Inspiration For Opera Plots: Berlusconi And His Under-Aged Tart
What's Italian for: 'You just can't make this stuff up!'?
JUST when it looks as if things cannot get worse for Silvio Berlusconi, they do.
Earlier today Italy’s beleaguered prime minister learnt that prosecutors in Milan had formally made him a suspect in an investigation into alleged juvenile prostitution. Although the age of consent in Italy is 14, it is an offence to pay for sex with a prostitute aged under 18. According to a statement from Milan’s chief prosecutor, Mr Berlusconi is thought to have done just that. He is also suspected of abusing his position, a crime under Italian law.
The prime minister has not been charged, let alone indicted, and his lawyers have said that the accusations against him are "absurd and groundless". But whatever its outcome, this latest inquiry will be difficult for him to shrug off.
This would really be funny, if the country he's supposed to be running weren't held together with baling wire and chewing gum.
Or, perhaps, people like him in jobs like that create countries held together with baling wire and chewing gum...
JUST when it looks as if things cannot get worse for Silvio Berlusconi, they do.
Earlier today Italy’s beleaguered prime minister learnt that prosecutors in Milan had formally made him a suspect in an investigation into alleged juvenile prostitution. Although the age of consent in Italy is 14, it is an offence to pay for sex with a prostitute aged under 18. According to a statement from Milan’s chief prosecutor, Mr Berlusconi is thought to have done just that. He is also suspected of abusing his position, a crime under Italian law.
The prime minister has not been charged, let alone indicted, and his lawyers have said that the accusations against him are "absurd and groundless". But whatever its outcome, this latest inquiry will be difficult for him to shrug off.
This would really be funny, if the country he's supposed to be running weren't held together with baling wire and chewing gum.
Or, perhaps, people like him in jobs like that create countries held together with baling wire and chewing gum...
Saturday, January 15, 2011
The Bailout of ATT: It's Only A Matter Of Time, And A 28 Billion Dollar Shortfall
Jesse's site always includes articles of interest on the left side, for the brave of heart.
When OS is feeling brave, he reads one. This one, about ATT's creative accounting methods to avoid having to tell shareholders the ugly truth of its pension obligations, makes for interesting reading.
When things get too ugly, let's just pretend all those pending losses actually occurred in the past. Stuff the future down the Memory Hole.
But, in the end, the reality remains:
The accounting change does not affect AT&T's cash flow or pension funding requirements. Its pension and post-retirement benefit obligations totalled $87 billion at the end of 2009, the latest figure reported. The plan assets are $28.7 billion less.
"The underlying economics of AT&T's underfunded post-retirement liabilities remains unchanged, and is a significant drag on value when appropriately accounted for," said Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett.
Well, yes, in matter of fact, these things do matter.
Pretty audacious, is it not? OS thinks that they are playing 'chicken' with the culture. After all, they're imbedded in all fifty states, have a huge employee base (much of it unionized), and T sits in pension funds from sea to shining sea.
So, when things melt down (not if, when), we'll see T execs in front of Congress and every state legislature, demanding cash and/or tax rebates and breaks forever, lest T collapse, taking all those employees, customers and pension funds down with it.
Or Da Fed will declare it a bank, and the cash pipe will be opened.
Wait for it. It's coming.
This is not a rant about accounting. It is a rant about a business culture that has decided that reality is for suckers.
Why anyone's pension plan carries one share of T, following this announcement, will be a mystery.
(Disclosure: No position in T. Not a chance of that ever changing, either.)
When OS is feeling brave, he reads one. This one, about ATT's creative accounting methods to avoid having to tell shareholders the ugly truth of its pension obligations, makes for interesting reading.
When things get too ugly, let's just pretend all those pending losses actually occurred in the past. Stuff the future down the Memory Hole.
But, in the end, the reality remains:
The accounting change does not affect AT&T's cash flow or pension funding requirements. Its pension and post-retirement benefit obligations totalled $87 billion at the end of 2009, the latest figure reported. The plan assets are $28.7 billion less.
"The underlying economics of AT&T's underfunded post-retirement liabilities remains unchanged, and is a significant drag on value when appropriately accounted for," said Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett.
Well, yes, in matter of fact, these things do matter.
Pretty audacious, is it not? OS thinks that they are playing 'chicken' with the culture. After all, they're imbedded in all fifty states, have a huge employee base (much of it unionized), and T sits in pension funds from sea to shining sea.
So, when things melt down (not if, when), we'll see T execs in front of Congress and every state legislature, demanding cash and/or tax rebates and breaks forever, lest T collapse, taking all those employees, customers and pension funds down with it.
Or Da Fed will declare it a bank, and the cash pipe will be opened.
Wait for it. It's coming.
This is not a rant about accounting. It is a rant about a business culture that has decided that reality is for suckers.
Why anyone's pension plan carries one share of T, following this announcement, will be a mystery.
(Disclosure: No position in T. Not a chance of that ever changing, either.)
Friday, January 14, 2011
From Al Fin: Amy Chua's Tiger Mother Parenting 2, With Photographs
OS predicted a few posts ago that Dr. Chua would hit a nerve.
He checked back in this morning, to see if his thinking was correct. It was.
This blog, Al Fin, drew a lot of fire, and referred to other places that drew fire as well.
Al Fin's take on it all is worth reading, definitely, as it is more measured and thoughtful than OS's scribblings.
The responses are definitely worth reading. One poster, who claims to know the children, is especially virulent. It is impossible to know, however, if this is true or the work of one more cyber-troll scammer.
OS stands by his original endorsement with qualifications. This approach, in the context of love and a sense of grace, really works! OS has seen it work, again and again. Ms. Chua is much much much more right than most wish to admit.
Absent love and grace, however, this approach can be a form of cruelty, and can damage children and families. See this post as an example.
OS has seen both situations, and only the former approach works. There is no Magic Pixie Dust, no One Size Fits All approach to parenting. But, on the whole, Dr. Chua is correct. Let's not allow the abuse of an approach discredit its proper use.
So, 2 and 3/4 cheers for Dr. Chua! Let the debate continue, ya'll!
He checked back in this morning, to see if his thinking was correct. It was.
This blog, Al Fin, drew a lot of fire, and referred to other places that drew fire as well.
Al Fin's take on it all is worth reading, definitely, as it is more measured and thoughtful than OS's scribblings.
The responses are definitely worth reading. One poster, who claims to know the children, is especially virulent. It is impossible to know, however, if this is true or the work of one more cyber-troll scammer.
OS stands by his original endorsement with qualifications. This approach, in the context of love and a sense of grace, really works! OS has seen it work, again and again. Ms. Chua is much much much more right than most wish to admit.
Absent love and grace, however, this approach can be a form of cruelty, and can damage children and families. See this post as an example.
OS has seen both situations, and only the former approach works. There is no Magic Pixie Dust, no One Size Fits All approach to parenting. But, on the whole, Dr. Chua is correct. Let's not allow the abuse of an approach discredit its proper use.
So, 2 and 3/4 cheers for Dr. Chua! Let the debate continue, ya'll!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Your Tax Dollars At Work: The US Sues The Metropolitan Opera
Really, you can't make this stuff up.
The Metropolitan Opera will now be more wheelchair accessible. The opera company on Thursday settled a civil rights lawsuit in Manhattan federal court that had been brought against the Met for failure to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that it had filed, and simultaneously settled, the lawsuit against the Met.
Under the settlement, in the form of a consent decree, the Met has agreed to install additional wheelchair seating, raised letter or Braille signs and accessible drinking fountains, renovate its restrooms and concession stands and eliminate barriers to accessibility in its elevators.
An investigation was prompted by a complaint from a member of the public that the Met was not fully accessible, the United States Attorney’s office said.
How many tens of thousands of dollars spent on lawyer time on both sides over this?
Over a complaint from one member of the public?
How many millions will be spent to upgrade facilities, in order to make them available to perhaps 100 additional attendees per year after completion? How much money will end up being spent on that project? Who pays?
The Republic has been saved yet again by our Department of Justice.
The Metropolitan Opera will now be more wheelchair accessible. The opera company on Thursday settled a civil rights lawsuit in Manhattan federal court that had been brought against the Met for failure to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that it had filed, and simultaneously settled, the lawsuit against the Met.
Under the settlement, in the form of a consent decree, the Met has agreed to install additional wheelchair seating, raised letter or Braille signs and accessible drinking fountains, renovate its restrooms and concession stands and eliminate barriers to accessibility in its elevators.
An investigation was prompted by a complaint from a member of the public that the Met was not fully accessible, the United States Attorney’s office said.
How many tens of thousands of dollars spent on lawyer time on both sides over this?
Over a complaint from one member of the public?
How many millions will be spent to upgrade facilities, in order to make them available to perhaps 100 additional attendees per year after completion? How much money will end up being spent on that project? Who pays?
The Republic has been saved yet again by our Department of Justice.
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