The Presidential Office

After the Rose Garden interruption of the president's speech I felt compelled to say something.  I have no memory of other presidents receiving the absurd lack of respect as the current president.  From the "You lie!", to Jan Brewer's finger, to the O'Riley interview to the Rose Garden. Come on!!  I know that many Americans do not like the president and that is fine.  But like it or not, he is the president.  And even if you do not respect the man, you should respect the office.  There is a certain level of decorum which is not present.  The real truth lies under and is only hinted at...so...I will go ahead and say it.  It is because he is black?  Black, orange, purple, or pink the president should receive the level of respect that his office commands.  And that does not include finger pointing.

Roanoke Colony, New Clues?

The mystery is one more step to being solved.  Centuries without checking on patches on an original map?  Really? Check out the link for the story.  I think that there may be resistance to tearing up the golf course that the archeological evidence may be buried under since it was designed by Arnold Palmer.

This image was taken from Fox News image, on-line.


See the story on Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/03/lost-colony-of-roanoke-re_n_1474199.html

Native Americans - No future, no citizenship?

As of June 2, 1924, the Secretary of Interior was authorized by Congress to issue certificates of citizenship to Indians.  Until then, Indians were considered members of foreign nations and therefore were not subject to or protected by U.S. or state law.  Used, abused, subjugated.....and finally..still are not treated equally or even well.  There is no future for a Native American that wants to maintain any semblance of real traditional cultural heritage.  Tragic.  Check out the congressional act at the National Archives.

Justified

I love this FX TV series. It is based on a short story by Elmore Leonard.  It is the way that I like to imagine U.S. Marshals to really be in law enforcement.  I own all of the previous seasons and was introduced to Elmore Leonard this way.  It is rumored that due to the popularity of the show, on which he is a consultant, has prodded Leonard to write another story about Marshal Givins.   The casting of the show could not be more perfect.  I am afraid that this may have typecast Timothy Olyphant as a police officer, though.

Justified!!!! 

Charter Schools,Comments on public school

I have just become a follower for Diane Ravitch's blog, a well respected scholar of public education in the United States. Her last post about the ability of charter schools to market themselves vs the public community school is an interesting observation that I have not thought of before.  For-profit charters and the ones that really get me.  I do not see how a public service like health care and education can be effectively run for profit if not at the expense of the customer, i.e., you.  After 11 years as an educator, I can honestly tell you that it can not be run as a business and fulfill the expectations of the public.  It is messy, sometimes slow and addresses such a myriad of issues it is unfathomable.

Luckily, we still have a large public commitment to public schools in Texas that charters have not made very much headway and their performance has been really spotty.  School budgets are tight, just as all governments budges are, so the future will be really interesting as it is the majority of the public expenditure by the state.  More and more expenses are just being handed down to the districts and the state wonders why things are getting missed. 

Oh,  and anyone outside of Texas that wonder about teacher's unions?  Organizing Ppublic protest and some lobbying are all that that they can do.  Texas is a right to work state, no strikes or collective bargaining here.  So, want to see an independent minded states failing in education and looking for solutions?  Look no further than Texas.

Pauline Maier - Super Star

   Now that STAAR is over and I am bedridden with colitis, probably because of it, I have time to blog, look for centennial celebrations for the War of 1812, set up an edublog, renew my DEN status, search prezi, look at Goodreads, catchup on reading, watch war movies to celebrate Memorial Day.

  Anyhow, enough suspense,our next historian as a rock star is...Pauline Maier.  She is truly a Rolling Stone star status among early American scholars, right there with distinguished names such as Gordon Wood (who I consider a god of American History), Edmund S. Morgan and Bernard Bailyn.  Her work has been well-written, researched and arguably some of the best Neo-Whig argument in print.  I especially enjoyed "From Resistance to Revolution".  Currently a chair of American History at MIT, Dr. Maier continues to teach and preach the importance of the origin and development of American thought of government and principle. I do not know if she has anything else in the works after "Ratification", but I will be looking forward to more of her scholarship. 

  Her photo was copied from her faculty page at MIT.

  

Paul Boller, Jr., the Anecdotal Historian

      I have enjoyed both Dr. Boller's Presidential Anecdotes and to a lesser degree, Congressional Anecdotes.  I do not know what it is about Congressional histories. I think that I am disappointed about the lack of "good stuff" that I know exists but is in abstentia in many of the works produced about our national Congress. Bourbon soaked poker games between Truman and Rayburn, the machinations of Joe Cannon, Speaker Reed's reign, etc.  Dr. Boller did a good job but I was extremely disappointed in the history of the House of Representatives that Dr. Remini, now House historian, produced and published with the Smithsonian.  So disappointed that I gifted it.  Back to Dr. Boller, his Presidential Anecdotes has been instrumental in "dressing up" my lectures in my American history survey course.  If you have not read it, it is worth your time.
     The other great thing about Dr. Boller is that he was a professor at TCU.  Though he retired long before my time there as an undergraduate, I really appreciate the work of this accomplished historian.

The photo was taken from on on-line pic by the TCU Daily Skiff about a 2011 episode of "History Detectives".