The Dish

Matt Steinglass parses CNN's hiring of extreme partisan and RedState.com headliner Erick Erickson:

The Overton window represents a strategy of pushing the political centre in a desired ideological direction by introducing wildly extremist, unacceptable policy positions and hammering away at them until other ideas that once seemed extremist come to seem reasonable by comparison. The commenting policies at RedState worked the same way: by allowing conservative extremism while tightly restricting liberal discourse, the site tried to redefine the right as the centre.

And again, this is where the post-modern left and the Rovian left overlap: it's about creating reality out of ideology. Because there is no reality that isn't created.

But there is. And the insistence on reality, on assessing problems empirically, and in proposing solutions is what we all need to get better at. In this, Obama really is leading. But the MSM chases its own tail – or, in the words of that ultimate post-modernist, Roger Ailes, it's only about ratings. There is no reality but ratings.

Lieutenant Dan Choi, chained to the White House fence in protest against Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Full story here. Video of his arrest in an act of civil disobedience after the jump:

Kevin Carey, policy director of Education Sector, a non-partisan think tank, lays into Ravitch:

The problem with "I was wrong about everything" as the prelude to an argument is that it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the repudiator's judgment. And, in this case, the book simply trades one pre-defined agenda for another: the collected talking points of the reactionary education establishment. It is a philosophy of resentment and futility, grounded in the conviction that public schools–and the adults within them–can't really be expected to do better than they currently are.

In the end, Death and Life is painfully short on non-curricular ideas that might actually improve education for those who need it most. The last few pages contain nothing but generalities: "We must encourage schools to use measures of educational accomplishment that are appropriate to the subjects studied." "When schools are struggling, the authorities should do whatever is necessary to improve them." "Teachers must be well educated and know their subjects." That's all on page 238. The complete lack of engagement with how to do these things is striking.

Ravitch returns fire. The last thing we need in this culture, I believe, is a resistance to saying 'I was wrong." Or a denigration of those who do so.

A reader writes:

I remember well my Catholic Catechism that was very clear about how following proper civil laws was considered de rigueur for all Catholics. ("Render unto Caesar…" and all that.) And that sinning required penance, and that penance was more than a few Hail Marys. It had to be some kind of personal sacrifice and atonement.

What is so amazing about the institutional coverup of decades of sex crimes worldwide is the complete and utter lack of any type of sacrifice/atonement beyond a few apologies and some insurance money.

The ability of the hierarchy to keep priests out of jail and not suffer for their aiding/abetting/obstruction is simply amazing in its total disregard of the church's own teachings for the laity. The dual set of rules, as much as anything else, should help to tumble the edifice. Only a reversion to a St. Francis-type of worldly renouncement of temporal power statues, land, baubles, and gay red shoes will purge the Catholic Church.

Another adds:

I'm surprised the NYT was willing to use the words "molestation" and "abuse."  I think "enhanced affection" is more appropriate.

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Dan Zak was underwhelmed by the Census:

I was expecting more of the 2010 Census. It only wanted my name, birth date, age, sex and race. White, male, 26. My privacy was barely violated. What about job? Relationship status? Hobbies? Hangups? It was a severe anticlimax, but this should’ve been expected. I’ve recently plowed through some family history — specifically my mother’s maternal branch — and at this moment I have in front of me a PDF of the 1880 Census, which lists my great-great-great grandfather in similarly glib terms: White, male, 44, married, farmer, born in Germany. I guess the official legacy of the average man is but a color, an age and a sex, and maybe an occupation. Sometimes we are just a number. Thanks Census.

Ryan Avent and Matt Yglesias applaud Walmart's MoneyCenters.

Ben Smith analyzes Obama's decision to cancel his Asia trip:

You don't set the President of the United States up to experience humiliation in person. It's being taken right now by people on both sides of the fight as the clearest sign yet that Nancy Pelosi has the votes.

Geneive Abdo reports:

In exchange for Rafsanjani's loyalty, the supreme leader appears to have given him power over a new bill that will establish a National Elections Commission to reform the electoral process. Not only is this issue at the heart of Iran's political crisis, but the commission would also determine the eligibility of individuals to stand as candidates in elections. And the Expediency Council, which monitors legislation and is responsible for any conflicts that might result over Iranian laws, will also decide the members who serve on the National Elections Commission.

First Read:

We’re told that the White House and House Dem leaders are fewer than five votes away from 216, after Dennis Kucinich’s no-to-yes switch yesterday and pro-life Dem Dale Kildee saying that he’s ok with the Senate bill’s abortion language.

Chait increases his confidence level:

I think this is going to happen unless something goes wrong. Of course, something could go wrong. Anyway, having held steady at around 60% for a couple months, I'm now up to 75%.

Intrade has health care at a 78 percent chance of passing as of this writing.