Liberal Arts Undervalued? Umm, Duh?

Liberal Arts Undervalued by Education Department, Official Says After Quitting - Chronicle.com

You'll need a site pass or subscription to read this in its entirety, but here's the first sentence:

The Education Department is controlled by advisers who have insufficient regard for the liberal arts and instead are intent on judging colleges largely by their ability to provide economically measurable talent for industry, a recently departed top official told The Chronicle.

I don't know why the liberal arts are so disparaged--maybe because of the word "liberal"--but it would seem to me that the ability to think critically, to analyze data, to write well, and to be able to understand and convey information effectively would all be skills that the business community values.

It's a debate, says Terry W. Hartle, who is a senior v.p. for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, between the liberal arts and "employment-specific education," a debate, he said, "that people have been having for centuries."

I still use semicolons; do you?

Has modern life killed the semicolon? - By Paul Collins - Slate Magazine recalls the history of the point-virgule and its lamented demise, except in its usual role as a winking emoticon.

CNN/ABC reporter: Corporate executives forced pro-Bush, pro-war narrative - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

One of the best news media analysts around, Glenn Greenwald, does it again with this list of atrocities, detailing multiple instances of corporate interference with reporting the run-up to war in Iraq and subsequent ass-covering by the media mush-heads themselves.

Expelled Exposed: Why Expelled Flunks

Just got around to listening to the Skepticality podcast interview with Eugenie Scott (4/29). Good stuff on the Ben Stein propaganda piece, Expelled. See Expelled Exposed: Why Expelled Flunks for more.

Equal time for the willfully ignorant | Philly | 05/22/2008

People who insist on remaining ignorant and their voting preferences--What a country!? Equal time for the willfully ignorant | Philly | 05/22/2008

Rudeness (the Rude Pundit)

It's rude, but goddamn if he ain't right:

You ever been to the mythical "rural communities" of Appalachia? The Rude Pundit has, hanging out with mule farm owners and miners and others. And they are xenophobic, suspicious, and poor - hell, these redneck fuckers hate white outsiders. Just about every Deliverance-style, Hatfield and McCoy, Ma and Pa Kettle inbred backwards ass country fuck stereotype you ever imagined exists there, complete with their trashed front yards and about a mouth of teeth for every three or four households. And they have every right to hate people who have ripped away the jobs and kept them in deep poverty and ignorance. There's been so many promises broken to the people of Appalachia that they may as well be Indians. Hell, the last time anyone in the federal government gave a happy rat fuck about the region was in the LBJ administration.

See the whole post here.

China's story: putting the PR into the PRC | openDemocracy

This is a great short article on China's public image problem as the Olympics cast a brighter light on that nation. There are some interesting solutions that are both pragmatic and relatively easy.

Megan McArdle and Dan Drezner's defense of the media - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

Click the link for another dismemberment of the press by the inimitable Glenn Greenwald.

We are Iron Man!

We are Iron Man! A lowbrow literary mystery. - Brainiac - The Boston Globe

This article covers the origins of the Marvel character (who has a movie coming out soon) and Iron Man's connections with Black Sabbath and Ted Hughes. It has a wonderful anti-war twist at the end of the piece, too.

Bill Clinton

is a dick.

Treason and the Religious Right

This article from the Huffington Post argues that 1) the religious right have said and continue to say things far worse than Jeremiah Wright and 2) that the Clinton campaign is abetting the right-wing's smear against Obama. Good stuff.

The world's 50 most powerful blogs | Technology | The Observer

The world's 50 most powerful blogs
Alas, Historic Alley is not among them.

Hillary Clinton

I've pretty much decided that I'm not going to vote for Hillary Clinton should she win the Democratic nomination. It probably wouldn't have an impact anyway, as I live in South Carolina, which will be "in the tank" for McCain, but I voted in 2000 for Ralph Nader and even though it didn't have an impact on the "election" of Bush, I said I'd never vote for a third party candidate again. Now, I'm in a quandary, as Hillary's negative campaign has disheartened me so incredibly. If anyone who stumbles upon this entry can make a persuasive argument for why I should write in their name for President (should Hillary Clinton become the nominee), I will do so in November.

No links in this entry, but I'll be posting some about Clinton's negative campaign in the next few days. For the time being, though, I'll just put up this video from Countdown Monday night:



UPDATE (April 12, 2008): That was, obviously, posted in the heat of battle, and of course blog posts are like that. So what? Well, I've decided that even if Clinton were to win--though that increasingly less likely at this point--I will vote for her, or any Democratic nominee in November.

The Dungeon Master

I'm saddened today by the death of Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons and Dragons and thief of many of my waking hours (many of which should have been spent sleeping or going to class) during my high school and college years.

The Lizard Man Returns!

Lizard Man attacks car in South Carolina? - Boing Boing

Writer William F. Buckley dies at 82

Although I shared very few (read: almost no) political beliefs with William F. Buckley, I admired his wit and his facility with language. He was one of the few true intellectuals. The public is rarely exposed to any depth of analysis, instead being subjected to endless streams of brainless pundits, some of whom have the audacity to consider themselves the spiritual and intellectual offspring of Mr. Buckley. I grew up, at least partially because of nothing else being on TV, watching Firing Line, and I learned a lot from it.

Stuff White People Like

This--Stuff White People Like--is a great blog. The LA Times says it grew from 0 to 300k daily hits in six weeks. It's really excellent.

BIL Conference - Minds Set Free.

The BIL Conference - Minds Set Free. looks interesting. Alas, I'm stuck on the other coast.

Salon.com | News Wires

I think Castro stepped down because he won.
Salon.com: Court Rejects Domestic Spying Appeal

Cultographies

I love it when academe and one of my other loves come together, so see Cultographies, a new series of monographs about cult movies!