Teach for America--not so good?

from firedoglake:

Why ivy league smart kids who agree to teach in challenging neighborhoods may not be the best way to go about doing things: 

http://my.firedoglake.com/danps/2014/03/01/teach-for-americas-unspoken-alliance-with-the-one-percent/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Thursday NIght Music Club (new DBT ed.)

(via Rhett Miller)

Stones-y new song off new album by one of my favs--Drive-by Truckers. Enjoy--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzTPQPwDM_A&feature=youtu.be

The Sinker, the Pirates--no metaphors here--just Baseball

from PiratesProspects, via Will Carroll--aka The Injury Expert--cited this as the best baseball article he's read in years. It is good and worth reading (as a piece of writing, it does remind me of William Zinsser discussing how good writing can make any subject worthwhile; e.g., "So that's how he did it--slippery elm. I'll be damned.")

http://www.piratesprospects.com/2014/03/the-art-of-pitching-mastering-the-sinkerball.html

Thursday Night Music Club (dyslexic motivation ed.)

ahhh, The Replacements are in the air . . . Tommy Stinson on the Craig Kilborn Show (I know!). Enjoy--

OK--just to keep things even-stevens, here's Paul Westerberg--from the movie Singles.

Less Safe, More Inequality?

as I watch 300 young activists be arrested, after being filmed by the police, this piece gains even more context--

(from NewYorkist, via emptywheel)

I'm not sure that Americans have gotten safer w/ the increase in Guard Labor. So what are the implications of investing more tax dollars into this sector if we are actually less safe and more inequality exists? Might it be related to NSA, et al activities in spying on American citizens? Might it be related to the efforts to criminalize journalism and activism? (think Edward Snowden)

Unsettling . . . 

Standing Their Ground (cartoon)

(via Roger Simon, by Jim Morin of the Miami Herald)

"What the Hell is the Presidency For?"

(Gary Younge @ the Guardian, via Jennifer Reft)

a piece that articulates something I've felt for quite some time now . . . 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/23/what-is-barack-obama-presidency-for

btw, LBJ seems to me--and for quite some time now--vastly underrated. Wonder why? Take a peek sometime at his accomplishments during his Presidency vs someone such as, say, Bill Clinton, a President the Left adores, but whose record leaves much to be desired, right? (NAFTA? repeal of Glass-Steagall?). Our current President is more Bill Clinton than LBJ . . . and I think that is a problem. We haven't had an effective Democratic President since Richard Nixon (I know, I know).

We are due. Come on, Elizabeth Warren. We need you.