NewsTrust - Lifelong Learning - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

'Live Through This'

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Katharine Mieszkowski, Debra Gwartney - Mar. 07 (Interview) - In "Live Through This: A Mother's Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love," Gwartney relives the private desperation and shame of being a mother whose teenage daughters disappear for days at a time, only dropping in occasionally when no one else is home to stock up on supplies, leaving empty beer cans, fetid clothes, empty cigarette boxes and puddles of brilliant Manic Panic hair dye behind. As the girls' absences stretch to weeks and months, Gwartney recalls her frantic searches for them, first in Eugene and then in San Francisco. Along the way, she delves into her own culpability in the family dynamic that drove them away.

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Books Can't Compete

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Chronicle of Higher Education - By Mark Bauerlein - Jan. 23 (Opinion) - Here’s a depressing and blunt comment from Larry McMurtry, speaking not only as a novelist but as a bookstore owner (it’s an interview): The end of the culture of the book. I’m pessimistic. Mainly it’s the flow of people into my bookshop in Archer City. They’re almost always people over 40. I don’t see kids, and I don’t see kids reading. I think little kids love to have stories read to them, but when they get to 10 or 11 or 12, they run into this tsunami of technology: iPod, iPhone, Blackberries. They don’t resist it, and it’s normal that they wouldn’t; it’s their culture. I’m not so sure they ever come back to reading. Some will, but most won’t. The tsunami metaphor is apt, and it points out the relationship between books and other media in kids’ lives. The list of options has grown, with books now joined by games, Web surfing, music downloading, Photoshop, YouTube, social networking, blogs, texting, IM, and the rest. Lots of folks think that the environment has grown more challenging and rewarding and enlightening, the addition of digital diversions fostering a rich plurality of texts and images and stories and sounds in which books maintain a central place.

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Howard Zinn: American Empire Is 'Crumbling'

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - Sep. 11 (Interview) - If there is any hope, the hope lies in the American people. [It] lies in American people becoming resentful enough and indignant enough over what has happened to their country, over the loss of dignity in the world, over the starving of human resources in the United States, the starving of education and health, the takeover of the political mechanism by corporate power and the result this has on the everyday lives of the American people. [There is also] the higher and higher food prices, the more and more insecurity, the sending of the young people to war.

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How Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying America

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Terrence McNally, Susan Jacoby - Aug. 18 (Interview) - "It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant." Barack Obama finally said it. Though a successful political and electoral strategy, the Right's stand against intelligence has steered them far off course, leaving them -- and us -- unable to deal successfully with the complex and dynamic circumstances we face as a nation and a society.

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Mix It Up!

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Greater Good - By Jennifer Holladay - Aug. 03 (Review) - Today's students are the most racially tolerant generation our nation has ever seen. According to recent studies, they are more likely to have friends, or to date, across racial and ethnic lines than the generations who came before them. On the whole, they believe racism is wrong. But we still have a long way to go. According to federal statistics, one in four students report being targets of racial or ethnic bias in a typical school year; one in 10 say they've been called an offensive name at school; and, in urban schools, nearly 40 percent of students report seeing bigoted graffiti on campus. Disturbingly, schools are the third most common location for hate crimes. So what can educators and schools do to help elevate levels of racial tolerance among students?

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Hilary Duff - Stranger; Official Remix Video (HQ)

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

YouTube - By Albert Castillo, ItaloSuave, MichaelBernard1, mdelcamp1, Hilary Duff - Aug. 01 (Entertainment) - I would like to dedicate this MashUp FanVid Music Video remake of Hillary Duff singing Stranger, to our White House Vice President "Tricky" Dick Cheney. I do so on behalf of both the American People generally, and President George W. Bush specifically. I think our Veep (and his NeoCon Wife and fellow travelers) has earned this award and designation. Enjoy. . .

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The Billion Dollar Dropout

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

gather.com - By Dr. Don Hutson - Jul. 09 (Editorial) - If our global economy and future do in fact lie in a knowledge-based economy, it seems incumbent upon our education system to insure that our students can learn. And, that our teachers are more empowered to teach.

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One nation, not just speaking English

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Andrew Leonard - Jul. 09 (Opinion) - There's nothing particularly exceptional about Obama's position, unless you are an English-only partisan cowering in fear of your cultural identity being swamped by funny-looking people from strange lands. Or one of the similarly insecure patriots who believe any criticism of the U.S. is a sign of "blame-America-first" treachery. And I suppose the whole comment about "going to Europe" opens Obama up to more charges of elitism, and disconnection from the lives of those who, right now, can't afford to even think about going to Europe.

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Shock Jock Howard Stern: How the Left Uses Humor to Advance Evil

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Founders' America - By Deacon Elurby - Jun. 07 (Opinion) - Deacon Elurby - Jun 7, 2008 6:54 am (#276 Total: 276) BookmarkEditDeleteReply My Response to Attack on Right-Wing Radio To: JR@Rense.Com Subject: My Response to Attack on Right-Wing Radio Message: Re: leftist's attack on Ingraham and my response, posted on AlterNet.Org http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/87236/?comments=view&cID=927473&pID=927462#c927473 ####### ####### Does Laura Ingraham - or Limbaugh or Savage or Beck - break the rules for sound logic in their opinions? I'm reminded of iconic feminist Gloria Steinem's response to ABC correspondent John Stossel, after reporting on the science of why boys and girls are born unequal in certain behaviors, to which report Steinem blurted out on NATIONAL TV: "Logic doesn't matter!" Not one columnist/pundit picked up on that astounding claim!, not even among right-winger columnists/pundits, as sound logic is the FOUNDATION of the West's advancements so far beyond any other civilization in world history-- the foundation of the scientific method. Well, she had summed up liberals' liberalism--the entirety of the liberal, Marxian, do-gooder mind infecting Western civilization towards a very bad end: "Logic doesn't matter!" TO REITERATE: That sums up the Left in politics, as IT IS DRIVEN by EMOTION not REASON--and sums up why leftists are so angered by reason- driven conservatives on radio talk-shows. -Deacon P.S. Read my essay about radio shockjock Howard Stern: How Humor Advances Evil in the West http://shockjockhowardstern.blogspot.com/ ####### #######

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Pearls of Thunder

Sat, 17 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Op Ed News - By Carolina Nickel - May. 17 (Opinion) - A truth about these latter days we are living in, which could make a difference towards real change.

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Can Miley Turn This Thing Around?

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Michelle Renee - Apr. 29 (Opinion) - Can the Hannah Montana starlet turn the recent negative buzz into a positive? The answer is yes, if she wants to.

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One Happy Man

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Harvard Crimson - By Logan R. Ury - Apr. 19 (Interview) - The psychology professor is smiling. It's a warm day in Cambridge, the first in a while, and the sun coming in through the window shines off his endearingly bald head. "The Hair of the Man," a poem celebrating the joys of baldness, decorates the wooden door to his corner office on the 14th floor of William James. Entering his office is not unlike asking him a question--the result is a stream of new ideas and unexpected discoveries. On the giant bulletin board, strands of jewel-toned Mardi Gras beads dangle over journal articles and newspaper clippings. Tucked among his framed photographs is a picture from his meeting with the Dalai Lama. Rows of uneven books, different sizes and colors, line his shelves, but many are translations of the same one: his New York Times-bestseller, "Stumbling on Happiness."

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Leveraging scientific data using the power of the semantic web: Who wants to start?

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Plausible Accuracy - Apr. 01 (Opinion) - ResearchBlogging.orgAs much as I appreciate the mission of PLoS, I haven't actually gotten around to covering any of their articles in this space. The other day I happened to come across one entitled "Open Access: Taking Full Advantage of the Content", and knew that I would have to read it. In the paper, the authors echo the call of Science Commons to work on creating applications which can leverage open scientific content. They describe some of the benefits and current shortcomings of producing manuscripts with XML markup (which provides for more facile machine reading and data extraction). They then go on to argue that the only way to convince people to go through the trouble of creating the machine-readable file is to demonstrate what can be done with the current level of markup and then drawing a picture of what expanding this would do.

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Learning, Arts, and the Brain

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Dana Press Blog - By Michael S. Gazzaniga - Mar. 12 (Opinion) - Learning, Arts, and the Brain, a study three years in the making, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. In the Dana Consortium study, released in March 2008, researchers grappled with a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter? [Download a PDF version of the full report (2MB)]

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Got a head for numbers?

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Australian Broadcasting - By Natasha Mitchell - Mar. 03 (Opinion) - Check out Numbers Guy: Are our brain wired for math? -- And for other creative neuro-pursuits tune into my colleague Lyn Gallacher's interview on last Sunday's edition of Artworks with Professor Jack Onians. -- Here's a related interview on art and neuroscience I did with uber-neuroscientist V.S Ramanchandran.

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for the children

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

WordPress - By J. Michels (myself) - Feb. 12 (Opinion) - Despite good intentions, the only real products of the drug war have been crack, meth and terrorism (not to mention gang violence, overcrowded prisons, deepening racism...) Statistics have proven that the billions spent fighting this war have never impacted either supply or demand, instead we have created a black market that undermines the very freedom of this country. What the children need are adults who act responsibly, they need to grow up in a country where the laws are just. By enacting sensible drug policy, as proposed by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc), we will open the door to a much better future for our children and ourselves...

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"Today's Decision Would Make George Orwell Proud"--FCC Commissioner Michael Copps on the FCC's Vote to Rewrite the Nation's Media Ownership Rules

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Michael Copps - Dec. 26 (Speech) - So now it's up to the rest of us. The situation isn't going to repair itself. Big media is not going to repair it. This Commission is apparently not going to repair it. But the people and their elected representatives and attentive courts can repair it. Last time the Commission went down this road, the majority heard and felt the outrage of millions of citizens and Congress and then the court. Today's decision is just as dismissive of good process as that earlier one, just as unconcerned with what people have said, just as heedless of the advice of our oversight committees and many other members of Congress, and just as stubborn

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Conservatism Is Politics For Kindergartners

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:17:35 -0700

the Regressive Antidote - By David Michael Green - Aug. 02 (Opinion) - It must be comforting to know that the world can be reliably divided into good and evil, and that your side is always good. ... Unless Americans want to (continue to) live in a country ruled by a government of, for, and by kindergartners, some of us need to reconsider how we practice our politics.

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Mission Accomplished: Funding Battle Highlights American Embrace of Moronitude

Wed, 30 May 2007 19:55:40 -0700

Common Dreams - By Ted Rall - May. 30 (Opinion) - But this column isn't about the war. It's about logic.In his new book Al Gore argues that Americans are losing the ability to, well, argue. "Reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions," claims the President-in-Internal-Exile. Never mind left versus right; irrationality has become so prevalent that outlandish jingoism and sentimental lunacy have displaced reason as the framework of our national dialogue.

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Words in a Time of War

Thu, 10 May 2007 12:25:30 -0700

The Nation - By Mark Danner - May. 10 (Speech) - Now I turn to you, my proper audience, the graduating students of the Department of Rhetoric of 2007, and I salute you most heartily. In making the choice you have, you confirmed that you understand something intrinsic, something indeed...intimate about this age we live in. Perhaps that should not surprise us. After all, you have spent your entire undergraduate years during time of war--and what a very strange wartime it has been.

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Is Education the Cure for Poverty?

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 13:34:22 -0700

American Prospect - By Jared Bernstein - Apr. 22 (Opinion) - Nobody doubts that a better-educated workforce is more likely to enjoy higher earnings. But education by itself is a necessary insufficient antipoverty tool. Yes, poor people absolutely need more education and skill training, but they also need an economic context wherein they can realize the economic returns from their improved human capital. Over the past few decades, the set of institutions and norms that historically maintained the link between skills and incomes have been diminished, particularly for non-college-educated workers. Restoring their strength and status is essential if we want the poor to reap the benefits they deserve from educational advancement.

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Opus 101 Just Add Music

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 21:11:11 -0700

NewsVine - By Jerry Firman - Apr. 21 (Opinion) - The purpose of this article is to fulfill an obligation to AssignmentZero (AZ), to honor a request by Fabrice Florin to share my views of NewsTrust with AZ, to provide Newsvine with an in depth view of what I have been doing outside of my normal Newsvine routine and, last but not least, this document will be the basis on which I hope a modern community news organization will someday come into being.

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APSA Review, by request

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 13:10:47 -0700

Abu Aardvark - By Marc Lynch - Sep. 05 (Opinion) - So, a couple of folks have asked me to review the APSA. That's always hard to do, since so much of the experience is personal - the friends you see or don't see, the restaurants you choose, the attendance at your panel, and so on. What about more general impressions? On the "controversy" over the relative weight of international and domestic politics going on over at the interesting new TNR academic blog, I'd have to agree with Dan Drezner. I was at the "clash of civilizations" plenary along with half the conference, and I left after Steve Walt's entertaining declaration of victory on behalf of Realism (even though Steve himself has obviously become a constructivist!) along with half the audience.

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