Events

More than 10%, it turns out; but of course it depends where you live: One of the things I’ve often heard while living in the European Union is the meme that only 10% of Americans own a passport. (This assertion is usually followed by the quazi-urban legend that George W. Bush never had a passport before becoming president. This I’ve never been able to prove or disprove any satisfaction.) I wondered aloud about this in my previous post, Work in Progress: The United States Explained' and a commentor...

This morning the view from my hotel room looked good. This evening it looks even better: And this is using my little backup camera. Next week I'll bring the big guy. (Of course, next week I'll have a different hotel room, but I'm sure I'll find something to shoot in Boston.)

They are a-changin'. Film at 11.

I've spent a lot of time in hotel rooms in the past couple of years. Sometimes, like this week, I have a good view:

The New York Times recently ran an op-ed urging us to stop lying to ourselves about how great we are, and get on with fixing things: America is great in many ways, but on a whole host of measures — some of which are shown in the accompanying chart — we have become the laggards of the industrialized world. Not only are we not No. 1 — “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” — we are among the worst of the worst. Yet this reality and the urgency that it ushers in is too hard for many Americans to digest. They would prefer to...

Kain demolishes the Tribune's chart showing how long it takes to fire a tenured teacher: First, this chart only applies to tenured teachers. Bad teachers can be weeded out much quicker before gaining tenure. School officials need to use this time window appropriately. Second, the point of tenure is to protect teachers from arbitrarily being fired. Teachers need protection from over-zealous bosses and ideological politicians. This is the same thinking behind seniority rules, which protect more expensive...

Jon Stewart puts the differences into their proper perspective: The Daily ShowTags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Economist ran a good story last week analyzing the pros and cons of federalism: Why is the tie between federalism and democracy so awkward? In most federations the units have formally equal status, regardless of population, so voters in small units fare better. Thus the 544,270 residents of Wyoming have two senators—the same as the 37m people of California. In Australia the 507,600 people of Tasmania have the same weight in the upper house as the 7m who live in New South Wales. In rich...