What is the name of that psychological theory when you hate yourself, and turn that hate outwards instead? For example, you don't like yourself, you have brown eyes, and so hate everyone with brown eyes. Or, you don't like yourself, you're a Jew, and so you hate Jews. Or, you were born to a young mother, making her life forever more difficult (but better), and you resent this, and feel that you might have been a mistake, and you know deep in your heart that you've never done anything worthwhile in your life, and so fight hard to make sure that other women have the right to stop a mistake like yourself from occurring. These are all hypothetical examples. What is the name of this psychological theory?
Anyways, reading about Palin and her daughters baby, it got me thinking about her daughters choice, and how she doesn't view it as a mistake, but Obama once said having a baby young was a mistake. Here is the story that got me thinking.
Obama a Mistake?
What Every DC Teacher Needs to Consider....
Trading Tenure for Test-Based Performance Pay: Revolution or Just More Confusion ?
"The Washington Post reported last week that D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has proposed what some are calling a 'revolutionary' contract where mid-level teachers (who currently earn approximately $62,000 annually) could earn more than $100,000 if they 'boost' student test scores while giving up seniority and tenure rights. No doubt schools need to pay more for valued student outcomes. But will this effort to link teacher pay directly to student test scores lead to even more confusion?Ms. Rhee claims the increased pay will be funded by philanthropy, but should a pay system be based on the idiosyncratic and often ever-shifting priorities of education foundations? How will student test scores be used? Will they use one year of data or more? Will teachers who teach non-tested grades and subjects be eligible? Will the chancellor make sure the tests that are used are properly scaled so more true gains can be determined? (Or better yet can the tests be scaled at all?) Even proponents of student test-based accountability for teachers claim that the current psychometric properties of value-added methods render Rhee's pay proposals unfeasible and perhaps even invalid. More importantly, while paying teachers more and differently is critical for our 21st century schools, is placing more emphasis on current standardized tests in the best interest of students? Should the pay plan focus on more robust outcome measures reflecting the demands of our global economy and new Millennium citizenry? No doubt we need professional compensation systems that reward teachers for improving student learning, developing and using new skills, spreading their expertise, and teaching in high needs schools and subjects as well as working hard to make a difference in the lives (not just test scores) of students. These issues were buzzed about this weekend as members of our Teacher Leaders Network Forum discussed Ms. Rhee's proposal. They have some better ideas that embrace much needed changes in tenure and seniority moving well beyond the focus on test scores that has beset more meaningful learning for all students' and truly revolutionizes the profession that makes all others possible."
Barnett Berry President, Center for Teaching Quality
Media Bias in the AP?
I know pointing out media bias is like shooting fish in a bottle, but I was reading this AP story about the protesters at the RNC, and saw that some were described as "peace activists" while others were described as "Republican Party activists". If anyone knows Alan Rybak, a real estate agent from Lakeville, Minn., please ask him if he is a paid full-time activist for the Republican Party. If not, then on what basis is he a "Republican Party activist." Because he holds up a sign that says "Support our Troops"? Did the author of this article, Amy Forliti, do some research and uncover his voting record as Republican? If voting for Republicans makes you an 'activist', how come the "peace activist" wasn't described as a "Democratic Party activist"? I know, I know- like shooting fish in a bottle.
UPDATE: Atlas Shrugs is doing yeoman's work on covering the protests. I agree with their assessment- The AP's pictures only the the police reacting to subdue the crowd, and not the crowd's sickening anti-social and criminal behavior. The slant is sick.
Palin is Normal
Via The American Spectator Blog, I read this good article on why Sarah Palin excites GOP voters so much- she's an ordinary person- not a greek god, not a war hero, not a career politician. She's normal.
Palin is a normal person, a mother and wife, who entered politics to oppose tax hikes. She is a graduate of the University of Idaho, rather than an Ivy League college; a high-school basketball player, not a windsurfer; a beauty-pageant contestant, not a lawyer; a member of the PTA, not NOW; a hunter, not an environmentalist. Palin clearly identifies with, and shares the interests of, the middle-class majority, rather than the elite.
Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama
You've got to read the whole article by Gerald Baker- he's a brit who analyzes US politics, and gets it right more than some of the locals. His article today is fantastic. Here are the best parts of it:
Political experience
Obama: Worked his way to the top by cultivating, pandering to and stroking the most powerful interest groups in the all-pervasive Chicago political machine, ensuring his views were aligned with the power brokers there.
Palin: Worked her way to the top by challenging, attacking and actively undermining the Republican party establishment in her native Alaska. She ran against incumbent Republicans as a candidate willing and able to clean the Augean Stables of her state's government.
Religious influences
Obama: Regards people who "cling" to religion and guns as "bitter" . Spent 20 years being mentored and led spiritually by a man who proclaimed "God damn America" from his pulpit. Mysteriously, this mentor completely disappeared from public sight about four months ago.
Palin: Head of her high school Fellowship of Christian Athletes and for many years a member of the Assemblies of God congregation whose preachers have never been known to accuse the United States of deliberately spreading the AIDS virus. They remain in full public sight and can be seen every Sunday in churches across Alaska. A proud gun owner who has been known to cling only to the carcasses of dead caribou felled by her own aim.
Record of bipartisan achievement
Obama: Speaks movingly of the bipartisanship needed to end the destructive politics of "Red America" and "Blue America", but votes in the Senate as a down-the-line Democrat, with one of the most liberal voting records in congress.
Palin: Ridiculed by liberals such as John Kerry as a crazed, barely human, Dick Cheney-type conservative but worked wit Democrats in the state legislature to secure landmark anti-corruption legislation.
The problem I have with this argument is that Obama is the #1 on the ticket and Palin is the #2- it shows how bad Obama is!
Humble fare that fed trading empire
The FT profiles Aliko Dangote:
For many in Nigeria’s elite, oil and the opportunity to trade contracts and secure concessions have proved an easy route to riches. Mr Dangote’s fortune is built on more humble fare. When the cement boom stalled, he moved into sugar, flour, salt and, at one point, fish to build the Dangote Group into a trading empire unrivalled in West Africa by the late 1990s...Today his group is expanding production across at least half a dozen African countries, preparing listings for its cement division in Lagos and London, and working with McKinsey, the consultancy, on a strategy to achieve a market capitalisation of $100bn.[continue reading]
via GidiBlog
Heal
to bring to an end or conclusion as conflicts between people or groups usually with the implication of restoring former amity; settle; reconcile. dictionary.com
Today's topic on WPFW 89.3 FM at 10: a.m. Check out this labor day special aptly titled: Heal- Public Employees Under Attack. Union leaders, George T. Johnson, Executive Director of AFSCME Council 20 and Eric Bunn, President of AFGE Local 2725 who represent the majority of District government workers will discuss how the rights and dignity of DC government workers are being eroded under the Fenty administration. I know I'll be listening. Posted by Candi.