Teachers' Lounge

SiCKO Moore's best film

Two dozen senior citizens, myself included, watched Michael Moore's new film, SiCKO, Friday afternoon. At the end, about a dozen people applauded. (Two dozen people doesn't sound like much, but this was the first showing on the first day in Las Cruces. I predict word-of-mouth will grow the audience.)

I've seen all of Moore's films (well, not really. I fell asleep during Roger and Me.) and, to my mind, this film is his best. Yes, he's manipulative. (So am I. So are we all. That's part of what makes us human. Some people are manipulative in a negative sense. List your own here. Others in a positive sense. Make another list here.)

Moore belongs on the positive side because, if meaningful health care reforms are achieved, in part, due to this film, millions of people will benefit.

I learned quite a bit watching SiCKO. Moore loves to pull little surprises and he has several tricks up his sleeve. One of the best is the revelation of the genesis of the health care system we have today.

Near the end of the film Moore mention's the anti-Michael Moore, and to great effect. Yes, again it's manipulative. Self serving even. Although the editing of this snippet is suspect, the fact remains - Moore sent one of his harshest critics a check for $12,000 to help pay his wife's medical expenses.

History News Network has a pretty good back story about health care after World War II.

Desperation defined.

The Dragon Lady weighs in. Of course, she hasn't actually seen the film.

"The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." - Hubert H. Humphrey speaking at the dedication of the Hubert H. Humphrey building in Washington, DC, on November 4, 1977.

Why I'm smarter than most fifth graders

A student raised his hand (no, really!) and asked, "What about animals on the Titanic. Were there any dogs?"

It was ages ago that I'd read A Night to Remember and so I'd forgotten all but the most basic material.

"I don't remember, but we can find out." I jumped to a computer and in 10 seconds time I had the answer. Poor Lady Astor!

So now we’re not only spending all this time in school making kids memorize stuff that literally can be found in mere seconds, we’re actually making game shows out of it (like we’ve always done) and framing it in such a way so that grown-ups feel stupid if they don’t remember information that most adults never need to keep in their heads. Let’s be honest here: when is the last time you really needed to know the names of all five Great Lakes, whether or not animal cells have cell walls, or who invented peanut butter?

Scott McLeod (Dangerously Irrelevant - Ruminations on technology, leadership, and the future of our schools) gets righteous as he skewers the faulty reasoning for a pedagogic tenet made largely irrelevant by technology. Based on this entry alone (this is my first visit to his blog site), I'm planning a thorough excursion into the mind of Scott McLeod.

Update - Got home this afternoon and found time to read the comments to Scott's post. Upon reading all, I found particular delight in this one. Unfortunately, my nodding and smirking betray an elitist attitude... one which I most certainly do not deserve. (And, for that very reason, I keep well hidden.)

Speaking of "unhinged"

This cartoon has caused Michelle Malkin to have a snit.

Quoting the Dragon Lady -

Unhinged cartoonist Ted Rall is throwing another troop-bashing tantrum. Normally, I would not feed this troll. But I agree with Noel Sheppard that this has to be the worst of the worst. Click for larger image–and make sure you do it on an empty stomach... Rall is beyond contempt. He has accused our troops of being murderers for Halliburton, mocked soldiers as sexual deviants, and derided the late Pat Tillman as an “idiot” and “sap”. Now, all in one cartoon, he shows his naked contempt for the very traits of the American soldier that helped give birth to this country and secured it for 231 years: willingness to sacrifice, faith, courage, respect for the commander-in-chief, and determination to complete their mission.

For even more naked contempt, visit Ted Rall online.

Thanks Michelle. You're a peach!

If you read only one thing today...

Bill Moyers: You just said in one sentence there "impeach Bush and Cheney." You're talking about taking that ax against the head of government, both of them.

    John Nichols: No. No, no, no.

    Bruce Fein: It's not an ax, Bill.

    John Nichols: We're talking -

    Bruce Fein: It's not an ax - it's not - Impeachment is not a criminal proceeding.

    John Nichols: You are being -

    Bruce Fein: - we cannot entrust the reins of power, unchecked power, with these people. They're untrustworthy. They're asserting theories of governments that are monarchical. We don't want them to exercise it. We don't want Hillary Clinton or Rudy Giuliani or anyone in the future to exercise that.

    John Nichols: Bill Moyers, you are making a mistake. You are making a mistake that too many people make.

    Bill Moyers: Yes.

    John Nichols: You are seeing impeachment as a constitutional crisis. Impeachment is the cure for a constitutional crisis. Don't mistake the medicine for the disease. When you have a constitutional crisis, the founders are very clear. They said there is a way to deal with this. We don't have to have a war. We don't have to raise an army and go to Washington. We have procedures in place where we can sanction a president appropriately, do what needs to be done up to the point of removing him from office and continue the republic. So we're not talking here about taking an ax to government. Quite the opposite. We are talking about applying some necessary strong medicine that may cure not merely the crisis of the moment but, done right-

A sobering discussion about impeachment