Those who are complaining about the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as President-Elect Obama’s chief of staff should chill out. I can’t think of any expression but “abysmally stupid” for the idea that this would be a bipartisan position. It’s a position for a loyalist with an arsenal.
… from Dr. Stephen Matheson of Quintessence of Dust. This is a good series, and I’ve been missing the continuation. Welcome back, Dr. Matheson!
I like Jerry Pournelle, though he’s not on my top 5 or top 10 list of authors, but it looks like he should stick to the “fiction” part of “science fiction.”.
Q: Why did the Arkansas house pass this bill?
… at Make-No-Wave United Methodist Church. For what it’s worth, I think the young pastor was absolutely right to push. May his tribe increase! (HT: John Meunier)
Brandon Haught has blogged much of the discussion on the Florida Citizens for Science Blog. My previous post is here. I doubt the standards opponents would have gone to such trouble over the word “theory” if they didn’t intend some underhanded tactics based on the popular definition as curriculum is developed and textbooks are chosen.
A friend sent me a link to this post on Language Log which discusses public repentance as a speech event. If you tag some spiritual implications onto the linguistic analysis, it adds some interest as well!
Pres. Elect Obama won’t appoint many Republicans, and can’t be expected to do so. The appointment of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff is at least a bit comforting to those of us concerned about a hard left shift; while Emanuel is a partisan, he is also a moderate from the Clinton Administration.
You know I could really care less if Obama’s administration is not bi-partisan. I mean on all the issues that he disagree with Republicans on I don’ want him to compromise. I want him to do what he said he would do and if that means he is not reaching across the aisles except on those issues that are not that partisan then I’m fine with that. I want to see some stuff actually get done in his administration. But that’s just me.
Bryan L
The difficulty that I would have here is that without compromise, very little will get passed. Do we want some accomplishments, or would we prefer many efforts, but no actual results? I believe that would be the choice.
Of course, I’m moderate by nature and would prefer that Obama govern more toward the center than his voting record would indicate.
I’m starting to hear complaints from some on the left that Emanuel isn’t extreme enough for this position. That’s probably a good sign.