Lisa De Pasquale - Page 7

A new study finds that administrative spending at public schools has increased 700 percent over the last 50 years.  From The Daily Caller: In the last 20 years, the number of K-12 administrators has increased 2.3 times faster than the

In response to Daily Kos Seeks to Prevent LA Times Sale to ‘Right-Wing Super Villains’: Just curious, fellow Conversationalists: Can anyone point to a recent incident in which an internet petition changed some company’s decision or policy?  I suspect starting a

A few weeks ago I posted about English designer Vivienne Westwood saying that she was not a fan of the First Lady.  Westwood is a liberal, but her criticism of the First Lady’s fashion choices made her a target by ugly

This weekend MTV has been showing past Real World seasons.  I never watched religiously, but would catch up on marathon weekends.  Right now Real World: San Francisco is on.  It’s great to see Rachel Campos-Duffy.  It’s great to see a

My favorite libertarian Nick Gillespie of Reason.tv has an interesting interview with Whole Foods’ co-founder John Mackey about “life beyond the profit motive.”  Mackey says “I think the critics of capitalism have got it in this very small box – that

I’ve never seen “Girls” because I’m too cheap to pay for HBO or any other premium channels.  There have been some interesting discussion of it on Breitbart (see here and here).  Given that “Girls” is held up by women on Left as

Interesting article from Matt Lewis at The Daily Caller about two successful shows that mock progressives. For all the talk about Hollywood’s liberal bias, they still produce the best artistic critique of liberal culture. This is both sad and encouraging. Sad

In response to Gordon Ramsay’s Party Nightmares: I remember reading that after Gordon Ramsay leaves, the restaurants bounce back because of the publicity, but many still end up closing.  Found this article that says out of the 32 restaurants featured in

This New York magazine article is making its way around.  There has been a lot of talk lately about the work-family balance and how women are opting to stay at home.  Women have more choices than ever before, so have a

In response to Koch Bros. to Buy LA Times?: I think this is a fantastic idea.  If the Koch Brothers were to buy the Los Angeles Times I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for conservatives to get their

When I first read the Entertainment Weekly headline “Where’s the Love? The Sudden Death of the Hollywood Sex Scene,” I was skeptical.  All we hear is that Hollywood is a cesspool of sex, drugs an violence.  Then I tried to think

A new study shows how the brain is able to hone in on the speaker it wants to hear in a noisy environment, like a cocktail party.  From NBC News (via Instapundit): Studying the infamous “cocktail party problem,” researchers found that

In response to If Mark Kelly Was Attempting a Media Stunt…: All good points, Ace.  This reminds me of when a hate crime is revealed as a hoax those on the Left are quick to claim that the fact that

I’ve really enjoyed seeing more Father Jonathan Morris on Fox News over the last few weeks during the coverage of Pope Benedict’s resignation and the conclave.  Boyish good looks aside, I like him because he’s a great example to follow for talking to

In response to 20th Century-Fox Archive Releases ‘Wilson’ (1944): With every movie post you do it occurs to me that there are some good movies that I have never seen.  Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to

From Bruce Carroll, aka GayPatriot: Last week, speculation grew in South Carolina and on social media outlets about my interest in challenging incumbent US Senator Lindsey Graham who has been in Congress for 18 years. In the spirit of transparency

In response to Jeb Bush Won’t Run for President in 2016: Ok, maybe we’ve agreed before.  Anyway, I think Jeb-apalooza is just a book tour.  I think he preserves his popularity (and, yes, he is popular) as a could-have-ran than

In response to Elusive “Wacko Bird” Ted Cruz Responds to McCain : Perhaps someone has already made this point, but I’d be willing to bet that Sen. McCain was trying to be hip and maverick-y and meant to say “Angry Birds”

Please disregard the headline of this article by Mark Judge of Real Clear Books.  In between the jabs against various friends, he makes some good points. Reconnecting with Buckley’s wonderful prose revealed something quite clearly: conservative journalism has plenty of pit bulls,

My criticism of the First Lady has little to do with her fashion sense (which is hit or miss, I think), but this exchange between the New York Times and famous designer Vivienne Westwood is revealing: Q. You must love

In response to Maybe We Just Need to Tease Large Predators More: We’re supposed to be rooting for the tigers, right? 

From The Washington Times: There is already a bumper sticker out there that says “Barack 2012, Michelle 2016,” spotted in the nation’s capital in the last month. In that mindset, consider new numbers just released: a Harris Poll gauging first lady

Only McCotter could make this brilliant point: Yet, such are the perils of a derivative existence: in betting the “over” on the laws of nature, Hugo crapped out and wound up not Castro’s successor but Castro’s submissive; and Hugo’s earthly

In response to Best.Presidential.Campaign.Kickoff.Ever: But… as awesome as Sen. Paul and others are on the Senate floor are right now, I can’t help but think this is one of the moments when all of us conservatives and libertarians are in our

In response to Is Obamacare Really All That Bad?: State governors and legislatures are facing a tough decision on whether to participate in Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.  There’s a good piece by Chuck Blahous, public trustee for Social Security and Medicare over at

In response to Top Five Smartest Decisions of My Life (Thanks, John!): The wonderful Jedediah Bila saw our Conversation posts and sent along her own list! So, I saw Lisa’s Top Five Smartest Decisions of My Life and, well, couldn’t resist. 5.

In response to Top Five Smartest Decisions of My Life: I liked John’s idea, so I thought I’d copy it.  It would be interesting to hear from other Conversation writers. 1. Working 30 hours a week in college, getting BA

In response to Are you ready for… Jeb Bush 2016?: Being from Florida, I never understood the negative knee-jerk reaction to Jeb Bush.  He was the first person I ever voted for when he ran for governor the second time. 

In response to Lady Bosses: Reading the WSJ article in Liz’s post and this sentence jumped out at me, “The female boss who not only has zero interest in fostering the careers of women who aim to follow in her

In a recent NPR article/broadcast, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says he’s meeting with groups of voters, including Hispanics, Asians, and youth, who have voted Democratic in the past.  After several years of the GOP telling young voters that they will

One of my favorite speeches given by Andrew Breitbart was about an issue he had never previously talked about — how his adoption shaped his pro-life views.  He addressed a group from Students for Life: Certainly, in Hollywood I lived in

Like many in the Breitbart.com family, I was shocked when I heard the news.  As I suspect others did, I furiously looked through my phone and email for my last communication with Andrew.  It was as if seeing his words meant

I just attended an event at the American Enterprise Institute on “Big government and big food vs. food trucks, foodies, and farmers markets.”  One of the speakers is the founder of the Food Truck Association and one of the most

In response to Fennel, It’s What’s for Lunch: I think I could come up with a reality TV reference for anything.  In this case, I’m reminded of the challenges in Top Chef when they’ve had to feed kids.  One episode

In response to Does America Love or Lust Big Government?: Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man and the new book on Coolidge, talked about this subject at an e21 event last week called “How You Can Say No on

  I don’t know about you, but this photo gives me hope. Hat tip to Teri Christoph at Smart Girl Politics for sharing this.