Thursday, March 8, 2012

A Feminist Distinction

Please check out "Modern Feminism Means Equal . . . Outcome?" by Chelsea Gruenwald at Misfit Politics. The piece makes a marvelous distinction between modern feminism's faulty focus on equal outcomes rather than equal means. A quick worthwhile read.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Mourning The Loss Of A Great Voice And Inspiration: Andrew Breitbart RIP

Right now lots of Andrew Breitbart anecdotes are swirling around on the blogosphere and twitterverse. I didn't know the man, but I am a huge fan of his. I've read a lot of these anecdotes and tributes today. My favorites, by far, were those of James Taranto of the WSJ and, of course, my favorite person on the internets, Jim Treacher [I mean, Sean Medlock, I still am not used it!] of the Daily Caller. I've spent most of today following @jtLOL's feed; Sean's been paying tribute to Breitbart's penchant for comically retweeting his detractors' vitriole.

The core motivation of conservatives' love of Andrew Breitbart was not that he was hyper-conservative, because he wasn't particularly hyper-partisan. It was because he had no compunction for calling out the lying, smear perpetrating, and hyper-partisan liberal 'journalists' [or DNC talking point shills] in that ballsy in-ones-face manner in which most conservatives would love to engage.

By definition, conservatives are, well, conservative. I joked during the Health Care Act Townhalls that the liberal media's portrayal of angry violent conservatives at these townhalls was ridiculous as evidenced by their wardrobe: golf shirts and madras and sperrys. Conservatives' version of confrontation is the same as liberals' version of restrained/repressed civility.

And then there was Andrew Breitbart: a living, breathing, erudite id and ego of the conservative conscience without the usual self-defeating conservative super-ego. He was entertaining even at his most obnoxious moments. I do not think I have ever laughed so loud and hard at anything recently than watching his confrontation of the 2012 CPAC Occupy Protestors. "Behave Yourself!"



I pray for his wife and children that they may have strength and peace. I hope his children will always know just how beloved and brave their father was. *Well, darn it, I hope someone writes a tribute this good about me some day. The Weekly Standard's Matt Labash obliges.

Wisconsin Confirmed Success of School Choice

"What we're seeing is pretty strong evidence that school vouchers have positive effects on Educational Attainment, that's how far students go in school. Here in Milwaukee, voucher students graduated from high school at a rate 4-7 percentage points higher than similar MPS [Milwaukee Public School] students. They enrolled in college at a rate 4-7 percentage points higher. Which is a big deal because only about 25% of these students go to college. So a 4-7 percentage point difference that's like a 20% difference."