Addendum ...

DAVID Brooks offers a concise explanation this morning for why the Founders of this country feared participatory democracy and created a representative republic instead.

Addendum ...

THE Moscow State Radio Symphony gave a concert in Quincy Tuesday evening at the Morrison Auditorium. It was excellent and the pianist, Alexander Sinchuk, played wonderfully.

The New York Times reports today that the orchestra travels on a budget during its nine-week U.S. tour, and the musicians make about $40 a concert. They are indeed far better than that.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Once a conservative advocate for standardized tests, charter schools and free markets to improve schools, former assistant secretary of education Diane Ravitch now says no way. A quotation:

Nations like Finland and Japan seek out the best college graduates for teaching positions, prepare them well, pay them well and treat them with respect. They make sure that all their students study the arts, history, literature, geography, civics, foreign languages, the sciences and other subjects. They do this because this is the way to ensure good education. We’re on the wrong track.

What she finally came to realize, of course, was that the Bushite "No Child Left Behind" law was deliberately intended to destroy public education.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

YES, a real patriot is an honest critic. But why would anyone, least of all The Economist, expect honest criticism from National Review? (And the comments are more interesting than the original blog post.)

Sunday, February 28, 2010

I once thought gun control a good idea. No more. Those of us who are sane will need every weapon we can find to defend ourselves from the "cadres of the obsessed and deranged.”

My entry in Art From the Heart's traveling Journal No. 1