If I ever build a shrink ray, I’m going to name it the Internet

Found in the comments to a diary post at Daily Kos, left as part of someone’s signature:
If the Earth really were your mother, she would grab you with one rocky hand and hold you under water until you no longer bubbled. — Kathleen Dean Moore
It’s a small world. Kathy Moore works in the Philosophy [...]

Observations on the Randleman Story

Observation #1: Without debating the journalistic merits of the level of detail in the recent story on Randleman, I think it was a bad move rhetorically to run that level of detail in the newspaper.
Why? I think it created more backlash than there would have been otherwise, and the story has become at least [...]

Fan, Meet Shit. Shit, Here’s Fan.

From the Lebanon Express website:
Lebanon police officer Ronnie “Kyle” Randleman, 36, resigned July 14 after investigations by the Linn County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) and the Lebanon Police Department determined that he had lied to detectives probing allegations that he had an improper relationship with a female Lebanon High School student
And away we go…. for the [...]

Challenging EW for the "Most Batshit Letter-Writer" Award

A letter in today’s DH, reprinted in its entirety:
It’s a communist plot
I find it hard to believe that several people who believe in communism have been elected to high state government offices. Beliefs so firmly entrenched that they are trying to have communistic doctrine made state law.
Two such people are Phil Keisling and Norma Paulus. [...]

From the ‘Ungrateful’ Files

Syndicated columnist Mona Charen, as reprinted in the DH:
What will George W. Bush be remembered for? If, as Clare Boothe Luce argued, every president gets just one sentence in the history books, then President Bush’s will certainly concern the war on terror and Iraq. His historical reputation will wax or wane based entirely on how [...]

Not what I would call ‘prize-winning’

The Oregon State Song:
Oregon, My OregonWords by J.A. BuchananMusic by Henry B. Murtagh
Land of the Empire Builders, Land of the Golden West;Conquered and held by free men, Fairest and the best.On-ward and upward ever, Forward and on, and on;Hail to thee, Land of the Heroes, My Oregon.
Land of the rose and sunshine, Land of the [...]

A Rare Michael Bérubé Sighting

The world pens an open letter to John McCain:
EARTH, July 25, 2008 — The entire world drafted an open letter to Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) today, asking him to drop out of the U.S. presidential race and concede the presidency to Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois).
“Ordinarily we do not interfere in America’s internal affairs,” said a [...]

Taking it personally

In response to this ridiculous letter in the GT (it’s the first one), I wrote my own letter. This is the important part:
I have to take issue with Jerry Duerksen’s July 23 letter defending landlords. The situation, at least for this seven-year Corvallis renter, is not the rosy picture Mr. Duerksen points out. A [...]

"Flash Forward: Pharmacy Flash Cards"

For some reason, I can’t stop laughing at this.
Make sure to check out the “About” page.

The Future of Education

From Rate Your Students, of all places:
The ongoing deterioration of high school. High schools no longer teach many basic skills. The expectation is that they shouldn’t. Why? I have no idea. You can pick from two dozen AP courses designed to get you into college, but in most schools you can’t get basic hands-on time [...]

The Man From Hope, Special Media Edition

Specifically, CNN’s Candy Crowley’s. From Washington Monthly (via Hullabaloo):
Candy Crowley on CNN: Barack Obama was, indeed, awesome in his Berlin speech tonight, but watch out! Americans might decide he was a little too awesome.
Not only is it easy for me to read that as “uppity black man,” but it fits right into that ludicrous [...]

Somewhere, we took a wrong turn

Via /. and from the Chronicle of Higher Education’s free section:
Tucked away in a 1,200-page bill now in Congress is a small paragraph that could lead distance-education institutions to require spy cameras in their students’ homes.
It sounds Orwellian, but the paragraph — part of legislation renewing the Higher Education Act — is all but assured [...]

Two Seconds on the Blogging & Public/Private Split

I’m starting to think more and more about blogs as being a replacement for the loss of common, public space in our communities. Certainly LT, and to a lesser extent this blog, have served as spaces for (some) people to have conversations about what’s going on with the LCSD…. on the other hand, given [...]

The Man From Hope, Redux

From a letter in yesterday’s DH bashing Obama and supporting McCain:
“Hope” and “change” are just stupid slogans that mean nothing!
How dare Barack Obama challenge the narrative of fear. How dare he.
I can’t stop laughing at that line. I want to make it a masthead somewhere, though I like my current one better.
It reminds [...]

"School superintendent files notice of possible lawsuit against board members"

From the Lebanon Express:
Lebanon Community Schools Superintendent Jim Robinson has filed a legal notice of claim with the school district over a possible lawsuit against school board members Rick Alexander, Josh Wineteer and “other persons who may have been complicit for damages sustained by Mr. Robinson as a result of their conduct.”
And away we go…. [...]