Liberals and the Health Care Bill

This weekend Republican Representative Anh Cao, a Vietnamese American from Louisiana, voted “yes” for the recently passed health care reform bill; I am proud of Cao and others that realize just because I have health insurance, or they have health insurance… that does not mean that we should not help the many that do not [...]

Liberation Theology

It was great talking to a former student who is working on finding an academic teaching position at an independent school; I have no doubt that she will be in high demand as she seeks a history post; she shared with me her teaching philosophy as it relates to historical analysis; it was great talking [...]

Socialism in American Political History

Very interesting discussion taking place of late in the New York Times about how we define socialism. See below…
It seems that whatever President Obama talks about — whether it’s overhauling health care, or regulating Wall Street, or telling schoolchildren to study hard — his opponents have called him a socialist. “Socialism” was an epithet [...]

FOX NEWS

According to Keith Olbermann:  in his view, folks that watch Fox News are “tin foil hatters, conspiracy theorists, paranoids and racists.”

Above: Does FOX attack Blacks?
The crowd of some 150 people wielded a petition with more than 600,000 signatures objecting to news coverage by Fox, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, organizers [...]

The Historiography Question

By definition…
Marxist historiography has made contributions to the history of the working class, oppressed nationalities, and the methodology of history from below. The chief problematic aspect of Marxist historiography has been an argument on the nature of history as determined or dialectical; this can also be stated as the relative importance of subjective and objective [...]

The Talk Of The Town Is Healthcare. What Happened To Immigration, Mr. President? By Senior Patrick Ryan

I brought my computer in to be re-imaged at Houston Christian School’s tech office last Tuesday when I saw Carson diligently working on an outside presentation while the rest of the school was effectively closed. I had hoped to catch up with him because I had recently been formulating the perimeters of a new public policy [...]

The Greatest Generation: The 1960s

A few years ago I heard a speaker talk about how terrible the 1960s were; his contention was that it was a period marked by immorality, crime, and vice; sure, those things took place as they did in the 1920 or the 1950s — two decades often thought to be a period of morality and [...]

Teachers of Color

Above: Danielle Milton, Jillian Thompson, and Ariel  Johnson during homecoming week in November.
The love and want and need to see different types of people is not a liberal or conservative thing; it is a matter of beauty and hope that brings all of us together; I smile knowing that I love all types of [...]

Academics or Ideology

I will start this post off by saying I had a number of excellent teachers and met some great students during my years at this Searcy, Arkansas school; however, over the years it is has become very clear to me that I have ZERO in common with the religious philosophy and ideological views of Harding. [...]

Academic Life and Being Bohemian

Academic types will tell you that it is important to find a place to belong to; it is important to have the social outlet in which one can discuss life, politics, academic work, study, read, have a drink, and meet diverse people. Vibrant communities tend to be made up of bars and coffee houses that [...]

Barack Obama: FDR or Clinton? by Alejandro Penafiel

The following piece was written by Alejandro Penafiel, a friend and former HCHS student of mine. Alejandro is a third year student at American University in Washington D.C. Moreover, he spent his first semester of college interning for the Republican Party at its national head office working for Senator John McCain. Alejandro is one of [...]

Tenure, Race, Academic Freedom, and Religion

Addressing matters of faculty, academic voice, tenure, and promotion has long been an interest of this blog; I do believe that good schools — be it a university, boarding, or day school can be measured in status by the intellectual freedom and voice permitted on its campus. Honestly, it is what separates elite schools from [...]

Why Not Place the Tax Burden On Hollywood? by Patrick Ryan

Patrick Ryan is a a junior at HCHS; he is a frequent reader of the now Professor. Feel free to leave a comment addressing his well articulated point of view.

Though it may be hard to believe, I was actually taking time out of my busy schedule the other day to sit back and watch an [...]

Being Uppity — Not me, Obama

My friend Jaylon Williams came across this story a few days ago and sent this to me. Topics of race and politics are inevitable — Obama or not. I have been called a number of things, but never uppity.
Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland has come under fire for referring to Senator Obama and his wife Michelle [...]

The Marx Question

Above is a picture I keep on the wall of Marx in the room I teach in.
I get questions from a few it would seem every academic year. I thought my academic reputation as well as my leftist views would have been well established on campus by now, but I guess I am wrong — [...]

Real Olympic Heros

” “Black Power Salute” was the moment during the 1968 Olympics, in which African-Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos exultantly gestured skyward, effectively leveling the playing field for civil rights. During the Mexico City games, Smith won the 200-meter race, setting a world record, and Carlos placed third. On the podium, they made a statement for [...]

It is May Day ‘08

I am going to celebrate this day with yet a 5th reading of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. This might be the day American businesses stop exploiting the labor of Mexican Americans — legal or not. To me labor is labor, as long as you are not asking this student [here].
According to Democratic Socialist of America [...]

Petty and Cruel Dictator: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Harry Kalven, the all but very important First Amendment scholar and one who I address frequently in my classes, stated that “as a thumbnail summary of the last two or three decades of speech issues in the Supreme Court, we may come to see the Negro as winning back for us the freedoms the Communists [...]

“Proof” that Liberals are Smart, Conservatives are Dumb

In the past, having a college education tended to be associated with voting for Republicans; in recent years, however, this correlation has become weaker; in particular, individuals with a postgraduate education — more than a bachlor’s degree — have become increasingly Democratic — as well as liberal. Also, a higher percentage of voters with only [...]

Cornel West: To Be A Leftist in the 21st Century

I have attended two conferences that presented Cornel West as its key note speaker. Most recently, the African American Studies department at the University of Houston invited him as a speaker and public intellectual. West promulgates the need for leftist ideology in the 21st century as a juxtaposed construct to: religion, corporate greed, youth, white [...]