April's fools

Finn, far right.

No joke, Finn is stil a teacher basher

Always tops on my list of April fools is Checker Finn, wing-nut-in-chief at the Fordham Institute's stink tank. His April 1 riffs are never as clever as he and his mentee, Mike Petrilli, would like to think. This year's spoof features a faux Finn book cover with this description:

In this inspiring motivational book, patterned after some of the more celebrated works of Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra, Fordham’s Chester E. Finn, Jr. walks hand-in-hand with America’s teachers down the path to self-discovery and self-actualization (reuniting with Diane Ravitch along the way). Through the book’s pages, emotionally-abused teachers will confront our nation’s long history of teacher bashing and overcome bullies who assert that collective-bargaining rights “should not be sacred” and that “ineffective teachers should be let go.” Come step with Fordham and the universe and let us heal your karmic soul. 

Apparently Finn thinks thousands of teachers losing their jobs, health benefits and collective-bargaining rights at the hands of T-Party governors is a real knee-slapper. Notice how he even tries to drag his old pal Diane Ravitch back into the ditch. Oh stop please, Chester. You're killing me. 

More April folly

It's hard to tell whether this one is a bad joke or simply for-real Libertarian goofyness (it's always difficult).  Something called the Sam Adams Alliance has made Michelle Rhee a finalist for their National Activism Award.

The fact that we can't tell if this is a spoof or not, shows how far to the right Rhee has drifted since she was run out of D.C. by the voters. Rhee is now splitting her time between a consulting gig with T-Party governor Rick Scott in Florida and running her supposed billion-dollar, anti-union Students First campaign  (look out kids) with Gates and Broad money. While her bank account may be growing, her political capital is dwindling rapidly following USA Today's exposure of her fraudulent test-score gains in D.C. and her insulting responses to her critics during her Tavis Smiley interview. She even embarrassed long-time Rhee apologist Jay Mathews. Not funny, Michelle.

Then of course, there's that power wedding to worry about.

Good read--No joke

Tom Hayden on Samantha Power, the voice behind Obama’s Libya action.” Bombing for human rights. Remember, Obama shelved her after she called Hillary Clinton a “monster” during the 2008 presidential primaries. Now she's a member of Obama's National Security Council.