August 22nd, 2011 by John Feehery
Are you ready for some college football?
After a summer of revelations about how corrupt the college football system has become, you could be excused for not being quite ready for a new season.
Apparently, a University of Miami booster spent millions of dollars providing prostitutes, payola, and other perks to star athletes at the program in order to restore the Hurricanes to former greatness. Isn’t that special?
This followed a scandal at Ohio State University that forced its esteemed football coach, Jim Tressell, from his job. Tressell didn’t think it was particularly useful to follow the rules as set forth by the NCAA, and while that helped him short-term to a NCAA championship, it hurt his long-term job prospects.
Last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Cam Newton, was so tainted with scandal that it became a open question as to whether he would be forced to quit before he was to receive the award. He wasn’t and he got it anyway. The chief allegation was that Newton’s father had put his son on the open market. You pay the father a lot of money and you get the son to play for the program, a clear violation of NCAA rules. Read more...
Tags: Cam Newton, college football, Education, Heisman Trophy winner, Jim Tressell, NCAA, NCAA championship, No Child Left Behind, Ohio State University football scandal
Posted in Bad Decisions, Education, Government, History, Politics, Promises, Scandals, Theory, bad news, sports | No Comments »
August 12th, 2011 by John Feehery
Nihilism rules the streets of Great Britain. A normal looking Norwegian kills scores of fellow countrymen in the hopes of sparking a war against Islam. Paris is still recovering from the Algerian riots of last year.
America loses it AAA rating. Europe struggles to stay fiscally afloat. Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Iceland all look like they are going to go bankrupt.
European birthrates can’t compete with European death rates, as more immigrants fill the workforce and create tension.
Gangs of black youths run around major American cities, beating up white people for the fun of it. Police forces in rural America spend the majority of their time trying to close down meth labs, as the percentage of people in the country who are addicted to the deadly drug inches up.
Teachers (not students) are accused of cheating when it comes to grading standardized tests, so that they can escape the brunt of the No Child Left Behind law.
Stories of abuse, suicide, rape, incest and a variety of other unbelievable evils dominate the headlines.
What the hell is going on with Western Civilization? Read more...
Tags: Catholicism, Europe, Evangelicals, Great Britain, Holocaust, Iceland, Ireland, Islam, Italy, Moral Majority, Nihilism, No Child Left Behind law, Portugal, Protestantism, Spain, the Enlightenment, Vietnam War, Western Civilization
Posted in Bad Decisions, Education, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Laws, Politics, bad news, national security, spending, taxes, tragedy, war | No Comments »
July 28th, 2011 by John Feehery
Charlie Stenholm, the former Congressman from Texas
Charlie Stenholm, the former Congressman from Texas, perennially sponsored and pushed for a balanced budget to the Constitution. Charlie was a Democrat, and sponsoring the balanced budget amendment helped him immeasurably in many, many campaigns.
Old Charlie could vote like a Democrat on most things, but sound like a fiscal hawk because he was the sponsor of the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.
Congress after Congress, the balanced budget amendment would come up for a vote, and Congress after Congress, the BBA would just barely die in the House. One year, it even passed the House and it almost passed the Senate. Ironically, it was a Republican – Mark Hatfield — who ended up killing it in the Senate when it did pass the House.
House Republicans are now pushing the Senate to take up a balanced budget amendment as part of the Cut, Cap and Balance plan. That all sounds very well and good, and as a good little Republican, I support the concept of the Cut, Cap and Balance plan.
But I have one little nagging concern about the CC and B plan. Read more...
Tags: balanced budget amendment, Bob Casey, Bob Corker, Cap and Balance plan, Charlie Stenholm, Claire McCaskill, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Cut, Democrats, Denny Rehberg, dollar, Economy, election, House Republicans, Joe Manchin, Jon Tester, Kirsten Gillibrand, Mark Hatfield, Politics, reform, Republicans, spending, Tea Party, Tom Carper, White House
Posted in Education, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Media, Politics, Theory, election, spending, taxes | No Comments »
June 15th, 2011 by John Feehery
It took awhile, but the Cold War consensus is finally shattering.
The Cold War consensus centered around a basic proposition: America was going to both pay and provide the military might to insure the national security of the free world.
America founded NATO as the alliance to promote that security and Congress paid for a national security establishment that guaranteed the dominance of American troops.
That Cold War consensus obviously started at the conclusion of the Second World War, survived both Korea and Vietnam, teetered a bit during the Carter years, and then came back strong during the Reagan years. After the Soviet Union fell apart, it took a while for the Cold War consensus to gain its bearings and its true raison d’etre.
The collapse of Yugoslavia gave the Cold War consensus a shot in the arm, as NATO rushed to the rescue of the Serbian Muslims. George Bush browbeat the alliance in helping with the War on Terror, as the Cold War consensus stretched beyond its natural life.
The war on terror is winding down. We will be out of Iraq before the next election and we may be out of Afghanistan if Congress has anything to say about it. Read more...
Tags: afghanistan, America, American troops, Cold War, Congress, Conservatives, Dick Cheney, Economy, election, foriegn wars, George Bush, Korea, NATO, Politics, Reagan, Republican, Ron Paul, Second World War, Secretary Gates, Soviet Union, spending, United States Congress, Vietnam, war, Yugoslavia
Posted in Education, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, Government, History, Politics, Promises, Theory, election, middle-east, spending, taxes, terrorism, tragedy, war | 2 Comments »
March 30th, 2011 by John Feehery
I was driving into work this morning, listening to Tim Farley’s always excellent morning show on the POTUS channel of XM/Sirius radio, as he interviewed Washington D.C.’s delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Eleanor lives in my neighborhood on Capitol Hill, and when you meet her in person, she can be rather pleasant.
But politically, she is a disaster. For example, she helped to deliver us Vincent Gray, the current joke of a Mayor in the nation’s capitol.
Holmes Norton – or Eleanor, as she is known by her campaign signs – likes to believe that D.C. is her own private domain that she can rule as she likes. She likes to think that despite she has no formal vote on the floor of the House of Representatives and no real power in Congress (other than the power to shoot off her mouth, which she does with great skill).
Eleanor (if I might be so bold) is fighting hard against legislation being pushed by House Speaker John Boehner. Boehner believes that kids from families that don’t have resources, but do have dreams should have the chance to go to private grade schools and high schools. He has long fought for a small program to provide scholarships to kids to give them that chance. Read more...
Tags: Adrian Fenty, Anthony Williams, Capitol Hill, Congress, D.C school system, DC mayor, Eleanor Holmes Norton, House of Representatives, House Speaker John Boehner, Joe Lieberman, John Boehner, Michelle Rhee, Tim Farley, Vincent Gray, Washington D.C., Washington D.C. public schools
Posted in Bad Decisions, Education, Government, Politics, Theory, taxes, unions | No Comments »
February 15th, 2011 by John Feehery
My son Jack loves to jump around. He is a five year old, and he likes to jump on furniture, jump down the stairs, jump up and jump down.
He is a jumper.
I think it is pretty funny. I like to give him the freedom to jump around.
My wife doesn’t think it is funny. She worries that he is going to kill himself.
I like freedom. She likes security.
Freedom vs. Security. That is the debate at the heart of almost every legislative battle that faces Washington too.
Ezra Klein had an interesting point in the Washington Post this morning about the nature of the federal budget. Klein points out that nearly 60 percent of the budget is taken up by some sort of insurance program. Social security, Medicare and Medicaid are programs meant to limit the risk of the American people. Another 20 percent of the budget is taken up by national defense and homeland security, which is another form of insurance.
In other words, about 80 percent of our federal budget is dedicated to making the world less risky and more secure.
That doesn’t leave a lot of room to promote freedom and opportunity. Read more...
Tags: Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, election, freedom, George W Bush, Government, Politics, Republicans, security, spending, Tea Party
Posted in Education, Government, Politics, Theory, spending | No Comments »
February 4th, 2011 by John Feehery
I gave a little talk to about one hundred brand new legislative directors at an event at the Ripon Society and I thought I would share what I said with you.
Jim Counzelman, a very good friend and the President of Ripon, asked me to give these new staffers some solid advice on how to work with their press secretaries and their bosses to come up with a effective communications strategy. The title of the panel was called: “A Clever Title is Not Enough.”
I told the assembled crowd my 10 know-yers that every staffer should know before they embark on any kind legislative communications strategy.
Here are the ten:
1. Know-yer member: Is your member a show-horse or a work-horse? Do they want to move markets or do they want to move Glen Beck to tears? Do they want to see their names in the gossip pages or do they want to have legislation named after them?
2. Know-yer constituency? What do the people back home want? What industry drives the district? What does Main Street care about?
3. Know-yer political base? What do your most ardent supporters care about? What about the people who carry the signs, make the phone calls and give you the money? You can’t afford to cross them. Read more...
Tags: communication strategy, Education, Government, legislator, Politics
Posted in Education, Government, Media, Politics, Theory | No Comments »
October 25th, 2010 by John Feehery
courtesy: Asia Pacific Arts
This might seem like a simplistic truism, but I think it is worth noting that there are more Asians in the world than any other group of people.
The number of Asians living in Asia is rapidly approaching four billion. There are 1.3 billion Chinese and almost as many Indians.
But the Asians are not staying in Asia. They are immigrating in search of a better life for themselves and their families, and many of them are ending up in America.
There has been much talk about how Hispanics make up the fastest growing part of the American population and how Hispanic voters are becoming increasing more important as a potential swing bloc. That is all true, except for the fact that Asians actually make up the fastest growing racial/ethnic group.
From 1990 to 2000, Asians, as a percentage of the American population, increased 63%. In 2000, they made up 4.3%, but that number is closer to 5% today and is expected to hit 7% by 2030.
According to Wikipedia: “As of 2008, Asian Americans had the highest educational attainment level and median household income of any racial demographic in the country, and the highest median personal income overall.” Read more...
Tags: american dream, American population, Asia, Asians, Chinese, Education, Indians
Posted in Economy, Education, Foreign Relations, Government, Immigration, Politics, Theory, election | No Comments »
October 5th, 2010 by John Feehery
(Originally posted on TheHill.com 10/4)
Over the weekend, the NAACP and the NEA, without the slightest bit of irony, marched hand in hand in Washington in a rally that was touted as “One Nation Working Together.”
This comes on the heels of the National Education Association’s successful campaign to get Adrian Fenty fired from his job as mayor of the District of Columbia so that his successor, Vincent Gray, will fire Michelle Rhee, who is the last, best chance that the D.C. school system would improve.
The D.C. school system, by the way, is overwhelmingly black, and by firing Rhee, black students will be hurt the worst. But that fact seems to be lost on the NAACP leaders, who mindlessly march with teachers unions, thinking somehow that failing schools are good for the African-American community.
The White House thinks it can use education as a wedge issue against Republicans. It thinks that because some Tea Party Republicans have campaigned on the idea of getting rid of the Department of Education. But the question of whether the Department of Education exists or doesn’t exist is largely irrelevant to the bigger question of how you improve education in the country. Read more...
Tags: Conservatives, Dan Pfeiffer, Democrats, Education, George W Bush, John Boehner, NEA, Politics, Republican, Republicans
Posted in Education, Government, Laws, Theory, election | No Comments »
September 28th, 2010 by John Feehery
The President has been talking education this week, and while it might be off the point for voters this election, it is on the point long-term for the country.
Not all American schools are failing. We have plenty of very good schools that graduate top-notch students who can compete with the finest students in the world.
But a significant number are not very good, and they drag down the average of the good ones.
And like the gap between the rich and the poor, the gap between the good and the bad schools is getting wider and wider.
I write about education periodically on The Feehery Theory because I think it is an important issue for our country in the long run. I am not exactly a policy expert, but I have been through my fair share of policy debates in my time in Congress, so I feel I have earned the right to at least share my theories, which may or may be legitimate. You decide.
There is a story today in the Washington Post about how Democrats are going to try to attack Republicans, especially Tea Party Republicans on the education issue. Some Tea Party candidates have been advocating the elimination of the Department of Education as part of their effort to make the government smaller. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Conservatives, Education, election, George W Bush, Obama, Politics, spending, taxes
Posted in Economy, Education, Government, History, Politics, Theory, spending | No Comments »
Are you ready for some college football?
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