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Rana Bokhari sure doesn't think much of the state of public education in Manitoba.

"We failed at math, we failed at science, we failed at reading," the recently elected leader of the Manitoba Liberals said when we sat down to discuss her party's education policy. "Clearly, it's not a money issue -- we're missing something."

Our talk wandered all over the map, with few details or specifics, so I can't give you a shopping list of how the Liberals stand on all the things the New Democrats have done in the past 15 years -- the moratorium on closing schools, greater emphasis on nutrition and physical education, Bill 13 for special needs, Bill 18 for anti-homophobia protection, continuing the reliance on property taxes, continuing to base inequitable education on the assessed values of properties in an area, capping tuition increases, literally dozens of policies that delight and infuriate disparate groups and individuals.

"I'm not going to sit here and bash the NDP... and the Tories," said Bokhari, who bemoaned the lack of research-staff funding that plagues parties with just one MLA -- former leader Jon Gerrard. Nor, she said, is she about to lay out her platform this far ahead of an election.

"We can't make policy just for the election cycle," said Bokhari, adding it's vital the province train young people and keep them here.

"We need to keep our young people in this province -- when they go, our economic base goes," she said. "It's going to slam us in the face."

Bokhari said she won't promise the Liberals would remove property taxes from funding education until they know the numbers: "I won't be irresponsible. If the province is going to fund it, where is the province going to get the money?"

I pointed out the numbers are there, down to the penny, in the FRAME (Financial Reporting and Accounting in Manitoba Education) annual report, all $2.1 billion or so of it. I told Bokhari that whenever anyone talks about the province's funding 100 per cent of public education, I always ask, 100 per cent of what? Who determines in that situation how much each school division has to spend, since there is such a wide -- sometimes enormous -- difference in per-student spending, based largely on local assessment bases and the willingness to tax.

Bokhari is a huge supporter of early-childhood education and would license daycare centres more quickly. But would she fund them, and if so, to what degree? She wasn't ready to address that yet.

The Canadian Federation of Students has told her what Bokhari calls a tuition freeze is "not a freeze at all," she said.

The rest is here:
Liberals have education vision, few specifics

Norman Podhoretz, Why Are Jews Liberals?
Best-selling author, Norman Podhoretz, discussed his new book, Why are Jews Liberals? Norman Podhoretz says he has never in his entire life been asked any question on any subject as often...

By: Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors

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Norman Podhoretz, Why Are Jews Liberals? - Video

Are liberals giving President Obama a pass for waging the kind of war they would instinctively oppose?

In other words, are they opposed to bombing only when the missions are ordered by Republicans?

There is anecdotal evidence, at least, that some on the left have lost their antiwar passion now that George W. Bush has decamped to Texas. Which means theyre more about partisanship than principle.

Dana Milbank, the liberal Washington Post columnist who can be tough on liberals, was at the White House for an antiwar demonstration in the wake of Obamas airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. A grand total of 22 people showed up.

Heres what he quoted lefty activist David Swanson as saying:

If George W. Bush were launching wars with Congress out of town, oh, it would be flooded. They would be screaming.

Obama, said Swanson, can get away with some abuses and worse and be forgiven because he engages in wars more eloquently and reluctantly, but the people who die in the wars are just as dead and the people who suffer from the sabotaging of climate agreements have their climate just as destroyed.

Medea Benjamin of Code Pink was asked why so few on the left oppose Obama. Hes totally defanged us, she said, citing his party, his affability and his race. The black community is traditionally the most antiwar community in this country. Hes defanged that sentiment within the black community, or certainly voicing that sentiment.

Defanged. Wow, those are damning words.

Andrew Sullivan, a conservative who largely became an Obama booster, is equally incredulous:

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KURTZ: Defanging the Left Why liberals are staying silent on Obamas war

Here's afascinatingchart from the Pew Research Center that sheds some light on why education policy can be such a polarizing topic. Liberals and conservatives prioritize very different values when it comes to educating their kids: Liberals are much more likely to preach the value of tolerance, while conservatives emphasize religious faith.

Among all political types, liberals stand out for theirgeneral indifference toward teaching obedience. On the other hand, they place a higher value on curiosity, creativity and empathy, as the chart below shows.

The differences underscore why the public school system in the United States, which for reasons of pure practicality requires something of a one-size-fits-all approach, is such a lightningrodfor disagreement and controversy. Conservatives and liberals expect - and often demand - very different things from their childrens' schools.

That said, there is one thing conservative and liberal parents agree on, according to Pew: "Among the public generally, responsibility is viewed most widely as important to teach children: 93% say teaching children to be responsible is 'especially important' and 55% rate this as among the most important the highest of any of the traits and qualities tested."

Christopher Ingraham is a data journalist focusing primarily on issues of politics, policy and economics. He previously worked at the Brookings Institution and the Pew Research Center.

Originally posted here:
Wonkblog: How liberals and conservatives raise their kids differently

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) speaks at the 2014 Values Voter Summit September 26, 2014 in Washington, DC. The Family Research Council (FRC) hosting its 9th annual Values Voter Summit inviting conservatives to participate in a straw poll. Mark Wilson, Getty Images

President Obama's decision to authorize U.S. airstrikes on military strongholds of Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria as well as a group said to be plotting an attack on the West is just another "scandal" liberals are clinging to in order to "distract" from all their other controversies, Sarah Palin told a thrilled crowd Friday.

"These Alinsky-lovin', Orwellian, out-of-touch command-and-control elitists who've been running the show?" Palin told the Values Voter Summit audience in Washington, D.C. "Well, they used to rail against big government and the man. Remember that? Huh? They are the man! Their M.O.? It's to play the politics of personal destruction against anyone that they would deem a threat to their power.

"And they distract," she went on, "be-bopping from one scandal after another, knowing that there are so many that you can't keep up with all of them. So no one's ever held accountable. From the IRS corruption to you being spied on to, gosh, Benghazi, to bailouts, to, oh, 'Bush's war was bad, but Barack's bombs? Oh, baby. Those red lines? The strategery there that was thought up on the Back 9? Barack's bombs, oh; they're the bomb.' Well, goodness sake."

Always a big draw at conservative cattle calls, the former Alaska governor-turned-professional pundit peppered her remarks with signature catchphrases like "the status quo has got to go." At one point, she wielded a coffee cup in a gag aimed at the president's now-infamous "coffee cup salute" moment.

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Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had a bit of trouble identifying the address of the White House during a speech at the Values Voter Summit.

Speaking ahead of her, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who rocketed to political stardom as the effective runner-up for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, bragged that he's been to all nine Values Voter summits. He implored the audience - keen to his mantle of social conservatism - to "quit being scared and start being activists."

"I have never been involved in a race, where you play defense on an issue and yet you put points on the board - and yet that's what we do," Santorum said. "If you look at the current conservative movement, the Republican Party, there are issues we haven't even lost yet, and we're talking about giving up."

And wrapping up the afternoon session, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal delivered a speech that sounded very much like a trial run for a 2016 White House bid. Though he tossed some red meat to the audience on social issues like religious freedom, one of his most talked-about lines accused Mr. Obama of harboring reservations about ISIS leaders being "hunted down, killed and destroyed."

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Sarah Palin: Liberals think "Barack's bombs are the bomb"