Gary Crooks

If a criminal busted into a charity and grabbed tens of thousands of dollars, she’d probably see some jail time. But if she quietly pilfered as an employee, she’d be less apt to land behind bars. Now, which scenario is more devastating to the nonprofit agency formed to perform good deeds? It’s certainly the latter, because an inside job damages the charity’s reputation, which is the coin of the realm when it comes to fundraising. Most of the tough-on-crime talk is directed at perpetrators who hang out on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder, so it’s hardly a revelation that we treat white collar crimes more gingerly.

Friday's Loose Thread

Czar talk

Thursday's Loose Thread

Wednesday's Loose Thread

At home the bell rings, it’s a teen at the door More magazines? Same pitch as before.

Tuesday's Loose Thread

Monday's Loose Thread

In perusing the littered landscape of raw political discourse, I’ve often wondered when it all starts. The answer may be third grade. I hadn’t realized this until I attended an open house, where parents were given a nifty pamphlet titled “Developmental Characteristics of a Third Grade Student.” It only took some minor editing to describe some adult behaviors:

Tuesday's Loose Thread

Stop electing judges, O'Connor says

The Golden Goose fund

Signe Wilkinson had a provocative cartoon in Friday’s paper showing that students who skipped the “Obama indoctrination” missed out on the indoctrination known as The Pledge of Allegiance. Schools also implement programs such as Character Counts. The crux of the controversy isn’t whether something is indoctrination; it’s whether you agree with it. Some opponents pinpointed suggested lesson plans offered by the U.S. Department of Education, which they said were designed to enhance the cult of personality surrounding President Barack Obama. Those plans were then rewritten to address the objections. In Texas, the board of education is trying to settle on an acceptable history textbook for the post-Reconstruction Era. A draft was released in July, and the Talking Points Memo blog has reported on it.

Friday's Loose Thread

Indoctrination

Thursday's Loose Thread

Wednesday's Loose Thread

Some say it started with the “borking” of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. Others say it was the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Still others blame the rise of the Internet, where people can enter their information silos without having to deal with opposing viewpoints or the facts. Whatever the case, the paranoid style of politics that Richard Hofstadter wrote about in the 1960s has reached unimaginable heights – or should I say depths? The flap over President Barack Obama attempting to “indoctrinate” schoolchildren is just the latest example. The weekend resignation of green jobs czar Van Jones is a direct result of this hyper-partisanship.

The official MOO poll on health care

Tuesday's Loose Thread

President Barack Obama plans to deliver a speech Tuesday to schoolchildren, and some parents are keeping their kids home to avoid the “indoctrination.” Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush gave speeches to schoolchildren, but parents weren’t warned to keep their kids home for fear that a short presidential speech would erase the hard work they’d put into raising them. It’s all so silly, but it is an accurate indicator of our hyperpartisan times, where gun owners snatch up as many bullets as they can for fear they will be banned. It makes me want to start a rumor that Obama intends to ditch the First Amendment, so you better buy newspapers, particularly this one, right now.

Friday's Loose Thread

Thursday's Loose Thread

Vroom for improvement