TheDownPayment directed me to this NY Times article about a proposal to give NYC students cell phones in exchange for good grades.  As the article points out the proposal runs counter to official NYC Board of Ed policy banning cell phones in schools.  This initiative is being spearheaded by Roland Fryer, the Harvard Economist who also advocates paying students for doing well in school.  Since neither of these proposals have been implemented I can not offer a full judgement.  Still I can not help wonder what will/might happen if parents in wealthier school districts start asking for similar rewards for their own children, and to what lengths might they go to have such a policy instituted across the board.  We have already seen what happened with Affirmative Action and its legal precedents were more deliberate than these ideas being considered by the Board of Ed. I hate to say this, but I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.  

 

 

 

 

I'm sitting here watching tonight's Democratic Debate and can not help but realize that these politicians are paying a great disservice to the American People.  First, this is not a debate.  There are seven people on the stage and while there are points where two or more of the candidates engage an issue, they are for the most part replying (often very poorly) to the questions being posed by Tim Russert and Brian Williams.  What is occurring on this stage is nothing more than a more crowded version of a Sunday morning talk show.  Neither Russert or Williams would allow this format for their personal programs, which begs the question, why would anyone think it's a good idea for a way of introducing political candidates?

But that's the least of my concerns with the way this debate is unfolding.  After an hour of listening to these men and woman talk, I haven't a clue why they want to be president, and what does it actually mean for them to be a democratic, two things that allegedly means a lot to both of them.  It appears as if everyone in this country is hindered by Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards' allegiance to the democratic party, as well as the homecoming contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.  Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson are fairly average/stereotypical democrats--and therefore deserve whatever plight becomes of their campaigns. 

In another world Kucinich would truly have an impact on this campaign a la Ralph Nader because his platform would not get suppressed under the media blitzkriegs surrounding Clinton and Obama.  Edwards' populist message would also be more audible in a true two party system or better yet, three or four parties. 

The two most unflattering candidates in this campaign oddly enough are the front runners Clinton and Obama. In all honesty, I haven't a clue what they're saying half the time.  Obama's staff are turning him into John Kerry light down to the cadences of their voices.  If this keeps up he'll be talking about Tora Bora and quartering Osama in the mountains by the next debate. 

Hillary Clinton has mastered the art of double-talk to the point where she can no longer respond to a yes or no question.  How can a person run for President if they're too paralyzed to make any decisions?

While I'm down to vote for a democrat over any of the republican candidates, this does not look good at all. 

Ferentz Lafargue

p.s. Joe Biden's rant against Rudy Guiliani was heelariousIII 

It's rather nice of the New England Patriots to turn themselves into a wrecking crew in order to satiate the appetites of the football who have been underwhelmed by the parity in college football.  The league has seen its fair share of menacing defenses and pass-happy offenses the last two decades, but has any team began a season running as thorough of a clinic on the rest of the league like the Patriots have done this season.  What's scary about this Patriot's team is that they're not a one sided team like last year's Bears or the pre-Super Bowl Colts that only dominate games on one side of the ball.  To put things in perspective their defense which is ranked amongst the top in the league has been operating without All-Pro defensive end Richard Seymour until today's game against Washington.  And what happens as soon as Seymour returns, they defeat The Redskins by 45 points.  Ironically enough the last team to manhandle the league in this fashion were the 1986 Bears, the team which defeated the franchise in that year's Super Bowl.  While it still remains to be seen whether they can continue at this pace.  In the meantime, pray that your team isn't on their schedule then sit back and watch history in the making.