Sending Out an “S.O.S.” to Find a Clear Understanding of Education “Status Quo”
Over at the Ed News Colorado blog, progressive teacher-activist Sabrina Stevens Shupe lays out a critique against reformer types for “the intellectually lazy use of ’status quo.’” She says that reformers like me use the term as a blunt object “meant to suggest low achievement,” but that in reality the No Child Left Behind […]
6/30/11
Newsletter June 30 2011
Why Did Homeownership Rates Grow?
Between 1890 and 1940, U.S. homeownership rates hovered between 44 and 48 percent. Then they suddenly grew to 62 percent by 1960. What happened to cause the rates to rise so much? The conventional answer is government intervention. Kenneth Jackson, author of Crabgrass Frontier, argues that legislation passed during the New Deal would “revolutionize the […]
Avastin & FDA: There’s No ‘Average’ Cancer Patient
Last year, the FDA began the process of revoking Avastin’s approval for breast cancer. … What is the logic of keeping terminally ill patients from potential treatments? Can’t they at least go down fighting?
New energy economy's dirty little secret
Former Governor Bill Ritter and other advocates of Colorado’s “new energy economy” often use the misguided argument of breaking our dependence on foreign oil as a viable reason for their economically unsound energy policy. Just last November Ritter said: ‘Over the past few years, we’ve established a clean-energy template that is creating thousands of new jobs, […]
Back in the Air Again
The Antiplanner is in Washington DC today to testify before a Senate subcommittee about the role of urban transit in the lives of elderly and disabled passengers. My testimony argues that, as I pointed out here a few days ago, most senior citizens will continue to drive as long as they are able. When they […]
Hooray! Institute for Justice Stands Up for Dougco Choice Scholarship Families
Excellent news this week: The Institute for Justice (IJ), a Virginia-based public interest law firm, has intervened to defend four Douglas County families who face potential harm from lawsuits filed by the ACLU and other groups to try to shut down the school district’s groundbreaking Choice Scholarship program.
What’s wrong with “evidence based medicine”?
John Goodman lists the problems with “evidence based medicine.” Think of it this way: What if there were a rule that says you can’t do anything during the week unless it is on the calendar by Sunday. Call this “calendar-based scheduling.” Instead of being an aide, the calendar would quickly become an oppressive barrier to your freedom of action.
Intercity Buses: The Fastest-Growing Mode
Tomorrow, the Cato Institute will release a new report on intercity buses that Antiplanner readers can preview here. This is an expansion and update from an Antiplanner article posted almost exactly two years ago. For that post, I reviewed schedules for about a dozen different bus companies in the Boston-to-Washington corridor and calculated that they […]
Brown v. EMA Casts Doubt on the “Weapons Effect” Justification for Gun Control
Originally published on Volokh.com Today’s Supreme Court decision in Brown v. EMA casts doubt on one of the shibboleths of gun prohibition. Since the 1960s, some social scientists have been attempting to prove that guns cause violence. They do not make this claim in the straightforward sense that guns, as tools, can be used for malign purposes–for […]
Wisconsin Makes It a Lock: 2011 Is Definitely the Year of School Choice
Update, 6/28: If you want a comprehensive look at all this year’s school choice bills introduced and enacted state by state, check out this memo from the Alliance for School Choice and American Federation for Children.
2011 is the Year of School Choice. I may have missed it happening, but can somebody make it official already? […]
Hickenlooper’s veto of SB 11-213 insults low-income parents
Published in the Boulder Daily Camera: Maintaining current Child Health Plan fees would not only be an injustice to taxpayers, but also an insult to eligible parents. The fees imply that parents value enjoying life’s amenities more than their own children’s health.
