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Joe Loveland

Joe Loveland's picture
Maplewood, Minnesota
Commenter for
1 year 42 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 04/23/13 at 03:32 pm in response to Are all higher education sabbaticals worth the taxpayer cost?

I'm not arguing that sabbaticals be banned. I'm arguing that they be a) scrutinized by budget stewards, like any large expenditure should be and b) not be approved near the very end of a career, when the value to students is greatly diminished.

I am all for students having professors in possession of current information, but I also know that a sabbatical isn't the only way for professors to get current information. Other professions have to squeeze in time for updating with their...

Posted on 04/24/13 at 11:56 am in response to Are all higher education sabbaticals worth the taxpayer cost?

Thank you for the good discussion and information. The discussions at MinnPost are usually much better than most places in the MN blogosphere.

I'm not opposing leaves paid by third parties, as long as the financier doesn't compromise academic independence and integrity. That's not at all the issue I am raising.

Again, what I can't get my brain around are leaves, whether fully subsidized or partially subsidized by the University (a 50% subsidy is still a big investment), AT,...

Posted on 04/19/13 at 03:15 pm in response to Keeping our promise to reform child-care subsidies

Kids who are prepared for kindergarten are much more likely to be reading in third grade and stay on track in later grades. Obviously, not every single child who is ready for kindergarten will be doing well in later grades, but their odds do significantly improve if they start kindergarten prepared.

Naturally, "fade out" of earlier educational gains can and does happen at any grade level. But do we stop trying to help elementary school students because we know that some kids later...

Posted on 04/09/13 at 03:37 pm in response to The Fairview/U of M-Sanford merger: 3 good and bad questions to pose

Thanks for the thoughtful discussion all. Some elaboration of my viewpoint:

1) Loan Shark-ism. If Sanford Health or a vendor is charging exhorbitant interest rates on overdue medical bills, that would be very relevant to the health merger discussion. But I haven't heard that's happening, have you? Until I do, I think the credit card issue shouldn't be conflated with the medical merger issue. That's not to say the credit card issue isn't important for policymakers to address. I'...

Posted on 02/01/13 at 01:24 pm in response to Budget 101: A graphic primer to Dayton's budget proposal

This makes me feel all warm inside. A real public service. More, please.

Posted on 09/25/12 at 11:53 am in response to Minnesota’s government spending is neither ‘skyrocketing’ nor ‘slashed,’ but it is insufficient

Paul, I agree with your point about regressivity. Earlier post on that topic --http://www.wrywingpolitics.com/dayton-even-a-flat-tax-better-than-minnesotas-current-regressive-tax-system/

So, yes, invest more and make revenue sources more fair.

Posted on 08/16/11 at 11:46 am in response to Bachmann and her unfounded claim that Iran planned to divide up Iraq

Fascinating read. I hope it gets read around the nation. Many of Rep. Bachmann's more well-known misstatements are more colorful, but this one is substantively much more disturbing.

As I think about Rep. Bachmann becoming President, this tale raises a couple of key questions in my mind.

1. Did Rep. Bachmann a) misunderstand a security briefing that badly or b) make it up out of whole cloth to suit her political message needs and biases? For a potential leader of the free...

Posted on 07/29/11 at 02:00 pm in response to MinnPost poll: Minnesotans evenly split on Dayton's job performance

Good to see MinnPost doing a survey. Blogs, talk radio, cable TV news and the like are ideological echo chambers, where like minded people reinforce each other and convince themselves that they alone are "The People." Surveys, imperfect as they are, give a better indication what a statistically valid subsample of "The People" really think.

Shutdown blame and support for "cuts only" are timely and interesting topics for this first poll. But I hope that future MinnPost surveys go...