Teachable Moments

Just in case you were wondering.

We’re Not Stupid [MittRomney.com, via News Corpse]

“A group that raised more than $5,000 to fight a $30 million bond referendum for a new Franklin library gave those on the other side a reason to snicker. ‘Citizens Apposed to the Library Project’ filed their official financial disclosure documents April 20 with the Johnson County clerk.” [Indianapolis Star, via @Pres_Bartlet]

“My white guilt died on Good Friday, April 6, 2012. That was the day my bike got stolen.” [Daily Caller]

“I want to know what is a 62-year-old man trying to follow a 14-year-old girl on Twitter.” —Jon Bruning to Don Stenberg in Tuesday’s debate for the Nebraska GOP Senate primary. Stenberg said his staff controls his Twitter account, and that the follow was a mistake. [Omaha World-Herald, via TPM]

“We’ve been culturally watered down to think we have to teach about sex, about having sex and how to get away with it, which is intellectually dishonest. Why don’t we just be honest with them upfront that sex outside marriage is devastating?” —Utah Republican Bill Wright, sponsor of an anti-sex ed bill that passed the state house Wednesday. [Salt Lake Tribune, via @pourmecoffee]

First, the news:

The last five months have been eventful for Steav Bates-Congdon.

First he got married. Then he got fired.

The popular music director at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in south Charlotte lost his job last month for marrying his longtime partner in New York, one of seven states to recognize same-sex marriages.

Yes, well, you saw that coming, even if Steav — no typo — didn’t.

But here’s the thing:

Read more »

Eric J. Ostermeier — Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Department of Political Science, 2006; J.D., The University of Michigan Law School, 1995; Research Associate at the Humphrey School’s Center for the Study of Politics and Governance — would like you to know that Barack Obama is dumbing down:

“My Message is Simple”: Obama’s SOTU Written at 8th Grade Level for Third Straight Year

Obama’s SOTU addresses have the lowest average Flesch-Kincaid score of any modern president; Obama owns three of the six lowest-scoring addresses since FDR

For the third consecutive State of the Union Address, Barack Obama spoke in clear, plain terms.

And for the third straight Address, the President’s speech was written at an eighth-grade level.

In Obama’s own words: “My message is simple.”

But was it too simplistic?

A Smart Politics study of the 70 orally delivered State of the Union Addresses since 1934 finds the text of Obama’s 2012 speech to have tallied the third lowest score on the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, at an 8.4 grade level.

We thought Flesch-Kincaid was the condition that the Heimlich Maneuver resolves, but let’s set that aside.

Instead, we’d like to ask Dr. Eric a simple question: Have you ever written for radio?

Read more »