A Witches’ Brew of Didactic History
Mary Beth Norton is a well-known historian of women and early American history at Cornell. She played a cameo role in Jon Wiener’s Nation article on Bellesiles’ critics, where Wiener quotes her as concluding “that Bellesiles’s interpretation of the documents was “‘just as plausible’ as that of his critics, ‘if not more so.’” (In his […]
See, Jessie, It Could Be Worse…
From the “KidsPost” section of today’s Washington Post (not, you understand, that you are a kid). Readers List the Best and Worst Treats of Halloweens Past …. My mom is not a normal mother. She feels it’s her duty to give out toothbrushes at Halloween. Now this would be completely understandable if she was a […]
“It’s Wrong” (when they do it…)
Today, Sen. Ted Kennedy said “It’s wrong to drag the federal courts into the voting booth.” But in a whole series of yesterdays, of which the following are only examples… Senator Torricelli: If we fail, not only does Ted Kennedy lose control of our ability to govern labor laws, not only does Patrick Leahy lose […]
Metaphor Run Amok
Va. Gov. Mark Warner (D, but gun totin’) on the upcoming referendum to raise transportation taxes in Northern Virginia: The opposition continues to throw up arguments that I don’t think carry a lot of water, but they constantly try to plant a seed of doubt.” With support like that, no wonder it’s in trouble.
Penn Provost Proudly (Perversely?) Proclaims Preferences
Erin O’Connor, a tenured English professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has a must-read post about officially imposed discrimination there (Link via InstaPundit). She cites a Daily Pennsylvanian article (which she warns may not be available long. She has a copy, and now I do too) that reported on an open meeting at which the […]
Political Correctness: A Case Study from Hell, er, Texas
Go here, now, for a must read case study of political correctness. It will make you laugh; it will make you cry; it will make you mad. (Great Chain of Blogging: link via Ipse Dixit via Cut on the Bias)
Bellesiles and the Culture Wars
InstaPundit observes this morning that “[t]he Emory Wheel … is doing a lot better job of covering [the Bellesiles controversy] than the New York Times, and he’s absolutely right. He links to a recent article and editorial in the Wheel. It is all the more remarkable that the NYT has dropped the ball on Bellesiles […]
Happy Birthday Jessie!
Today is Jessie’s 16th birthday! This blog never would have been launched if Jessie hadn’t insisted on it, and done all the heavy lifting to make it happen. She’s been too busy to participate lately, but here’s hoping that, now that she’s a year older, she’ll find time to make some appearances here. You know, […]
Two Views of Diversity
In a Washington Post OpEd today, Fred Hiatt argues that Texas’s “Top 10%” plan is not producing sufficient “diversity.” Adopted as an attempt to preserve access of minorities after affirmative action was outlawed by the Fifth Circuit, the plan guarantees university admission to the University of Texas at Austin, the flagship campus, to the top […]
More Wiener
Prof. Jerome Sternstein has a long, detailed critique of Jon Wiener’s NATION article that takes into account the recent Emory report. It’s quite impressive.
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