In 1980, when William Winter became governor of Mississippi, there was no state funded kindergarten. School attendance was not compulsory. Mississippi ranked last in the nation among most educational indicators. And in the more than 25 years that had passed since the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision, the state had not been able to come to terms with school desegregation.
In 1982, Gov. Winter succeeded, against all odds, in passing the most sweeping education reform the state had ever seen, which among other things established kindergarten for all Mississippians.
NPR
1968
Charles Andres posts an interesting look at 1968 vis a vis 2004
http://www.e-pix.com/1968/
Recent comments about how we live in dangerous and chilling times (after 9/11) should be seen in perspective to 1968, when
- 25000 American soldiers had been killed in 3 years of the Vietnam War.
- The leading proponents for change (Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy) were assassinated.
- The Soviet Union was considered a nuclear threat that could wipe out the United States in a day.
- Protesters against the war in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention were stopped with police-state tactics.
- I have posted rare video tape footage of CBS News on April 4, the day Martin Luther King was assassinated, and ABC News coverage of the Democratic National Convention from Aug 28, 1968, the night of the largest riots, the fight over the Vietnam War plank (whether to change Democratic party plank to allow Vietnam the right to determine its own government and stop bombing the north) and Vice Presidents Humphrey’s nomination.
Errol Morris Interview
Rob Thomas interviews Errol Morris on the Fog of War.
“They’re the odd couple of American film in 2004, Robert McNamara and Errol Morris.
McNamara is the former U.S. secretary of defense who was one of the prime forces behind the Vietnam War, who ended up hated by both the left and the right.”
Viet Dinh on the Patriot Act
In May 2001, the professor of law at Georgetown University was tapped by the Justice Department to work for two years as an assistant attorney general, working primarily on judicial nominations for the department.
But three months later the World Trade Center towers collapsed, and Dinh was drafted to work on the USA Patriot Act, a bill that would give the government some of its most controversial surveillance powers. The bill, coupled with the government’s subsequent treatment of immigrants and native-born citizens, prompted critics to charge the administration with overthrowing “800 years of democratic tradition.” Wired.
Tom Peters on Outsourcing
Tom Peters posts 16 points on outsourcing/offshoring. Points 6 and 7 are interesting.
6. Americans’ “unearned wage advantage” could be erased permanently. (“There is no job which is America’s God-given right anymore.” — Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard)
7. The wholesale, upscale entry of 2.5 billion people (China, India) into the global economy at an accelerating rate is almost unfathomable.
His conclusion: we need to train many, many more creative, risk-taking entrepreneurs. That will require a massive shift in how we educate our youth. The only reliable indicator of whether you will be an entrepreneur: you are the son or daughter of an entrepreneur. If that skillset can’t be transferred more generally, most people will be left behind.
Thanks to John Robb.
I’ve lived in the west, and there’s no question, that residents in Wisconsin and the Midwest in general need to start to take some business risks, and grow more entrepreneurs (It is truly genetic, I believe).
Song of the Day
Annie Lennox’s Into the West from The Lord of the Rings – Return of the King.
Pier Wisconsin Unveiled
Acting Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt and Pier Wisconsin officials made public the long-awaited redesign of the $46 million lakefront education center at Municipal Pier. In an earlier interview, Pratt called it “spectacular” and “a wonderful addition to the lakefront.”
Art Rainwater Profile
Doug Erickson profiles Madison Metropolitan School District Administrator Art Rainwater.
Nader Announces Run for Presidency
Dave Winer (UW Grad and the original blogger) has some useful comments on Nader’s run.
Frontline: Tax Me if You Can
PBS’s Frontline has an interview with Robert McIntyre, Director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy regarding Federal Tax Policy.
Our current tax system is a mess, with many special interests (ethanol, SUV’s) feeding at the trough.
Business Week had an interesting article recently on the “fairness” of the current tax system (including the controversial Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) implications on middle income Americans).
A friend thinks we’re better off taxing everything at the cash source….