Archive for May, 2009

May 28, 2009 New York Times Op-Ed On Humans’ Anti-Deliberative Tendencies

May 28, 2009
By Kevin R. Kosar

Nicholas D. Kristof writes: The larger point is that liberals and conservatives often form judgments through flash intuitions that aren’t a result of a deliberative process. The crucial part of the brain for these judgments is the medial prefrontal cortex, which has more to do with moralizing than with rationality. Kristof also cites Professor...
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May 27, 2009 New York Times Story on Aligning High School Curricula with College Curricula

May 28, 2009
By Kevin R. Kosar

This story reports that the stimulus law that Mr. Obama signed in February requires states receiving stabilization money to work to improve courses and tests so that high school graduates can succeed in college without remedial classes. The story links to a Department of Education excerpt of parts of the stimulus law that relate...
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May 25, 2009 New York Times Blog by Critchley on Happiness

May 27, 2009
By Kevin R. Kosar

Simon Critchley, a New School philosopher, wrote a thought-provoking piece on happiness at the “Happy Days” blog at the New York Times. In it, he quotes Jean-Jacques Rousseau‘s wonderful Reveries of a Solitary Stroller (also called Reveries of a Solitary Walker, Daydreams of a Solitary Walker, etc.): If there is a state where the...
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Study on How Much Do 17-Year Olds Know?

May 27, 2009
By Kevin R. Kosar

Retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter made further news recently when he despaired of the state of civics education in the United States.  Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post writes The justice went on to lament how many Americans today do not grow up understanding even the most basic truths about U.S. democracy —...
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Research Resource: U.S. Postal Service Testimony, Communications, Financial Information

May 26, 2009
By Kevin R. Kosar

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) provides the following information online: USPS testimony before Congress USPS speeches USPS press releases USPS financial information including: Annual reports Comprehensive statements and 5 year plans 10Q (quarterly reports) 10K forms FY2009 appropriations request (December 11, 2007) Source: U.S. Postal Service website.
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My New Book

My Education Politics Book

Books I’ve Recently Enjoyed

Non-Fiction: Kathryn A. Jacob, King of the Lobby: The Life and Times of Sam Ward, Man-About-Washington in the Gilded Age (2010).

Non-Fiction: Philip Terzian, Architects of Power: Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and the American Century (2010).

Fiction: David Lodge, Thinks (2001)

Non-Fiction: Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Service, 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition (2010)

Non-Fiction: Christopher Buckley, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir (2009)

Non-Fiction: Alice Cooper, Alice Cooper, Golf Monster (2007)

Fiction: John Le Carre A Most Wanted Man (2008)

Fiction: John Le Carre Our Game (1995)

Fiction: John Le Carre The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)

Fiction: Peter DeVries Into Your Tent I'll Creep (1971)

Fiction: Peter DeVries Peckham's Marbles (1986)

Fiction: Georges Simenon Three Beds in Manhattan (1964)

Fiction: Kazuo Ishiguro The Remains of the Day (1988)