Oh, I'm sorry Michael, your post wasn't the usual attack on Clinton as the root of all evil, it was on "liberals" as the root of all evil. I get confused, since the two get smeared together so often here.
I raised a few points in response to the usual shotgun attack on everything that doesn't agree with the right wing agenda of the day. I happen to have some personal experience on phonics versus whole language, and on Catholic schools too. You don't know what you're talking about. My daughter in second grade, who's learned to read with a modern, eclectic approach, does very well at reading. I don't know if it's better than I could do at that age, with the old Catholic school Dick-and-Jane reader, but I know she reads a lot more interesting stuff than I did in school, and I imagine she'd be bored to death if she had to plow through Dick and Jane and endless phonics drills. She learned some phonics, but mostly she learned to read by reading a lot, and by being read to, like we all learn to talk.
Then, I took on your defense of cigarettes, because I think it's ridiculous. No, cigarettes don't kill kids, but that's when a lot of people who die later get hooked on a lifelong habit. And cigarettes, by all indications, are as addictive as anything. The social opprobrium that's supposed to be the cure for all that was wrong with the '60's doesn't seem to have done much to cure that national addiction.
So, do you claim your 5 point jeremiad on inner city violence was "casual conversation"? It looked pretty regurgitational to me. All that's wrong in the world is due to liberals, or Clinton, or the hedonistic '60s, or something that only a moral reformation coupled with conservative political domination can cure. But you really want to understand, right? Substantive debate as usual. K would be proud. Then, you get to throw in the ever popular mental health thing. Since I don't find all the smears and attacks on the "wrong" politics funny, despite your smileys, I'm hostile and unbalanced. Given your concurrence with Mr. Pilch on what's wrong with our society, I find that, at least, somewhat amusing.
Cheers, Dan. |
