Bankruptcy Or Bailout?

Not even your Member of Congress knows for sure, as lawmakers tell Big Auto to show them the plans before they show them the money. Plus: New terrorism update says al-Qaeda’s power is on the slide...in space, no one can hear you sniff?..clues on how to get a job in the Obama White House (Hint: It has a lot to do with Montana and great pizza)...Larry Craig misses the irony in his excitement that Ted Stevens has his own airport...and Karl Rove’s hysterical advice to Rahm. It’s Friday, November 21 and this is Mic Check Radio. Have a great show.

Celebration Excuse

What do you get when you combine Demi Moore, Thomas Edison and the cliffhanger of the century? Why, November 21, of course!

1789

Welcome to the country! North Carolina ratifies the Constitution and becomes the 12th state in the nation.

1877

Put away your iPod for the day and get out your old vinyl: Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.

1922

GIRL POWER! Rebecca Felton becomes the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

1973

Nixon’s lawyer admits there’s a now-infamous 18 ½-minute gap in the White House tapes.

1980

Who shot J.R.? In one of the highest-rated television episodes ever, millions of Americans tune in to Dallas to find out. (Trivia: It was his sister-in-law-slash-pregnant-mistress, Kristen.)

1986

Confetti! Oliver North starts shredding documents.

1987

In the celebrity wedding of the year, Demi Moore marries Bruce Willis. (Ashton Kutcher is 9.)

1992

Sen. Bob Packwood (R., OR) says he’s sorry for a decade of groping.

And happy birthdays to 2 athletes, 3 actresses and a statesman (sounds like a great new sitcom):

1937: That Girl (and Mrs. Phil Donohue) Marlo Thomas

1944: And the new second-in-command in the Senate, Sen. Dick Durban (D., IL)

1945: The seemingly ageless Goldie Hawn

1963: Desperate Housewife Nicollette Sheridan

1966: Football’s Troy Aikman

1969: Cincinnati Red Ken Griffey Jr.

Daybook

POTUS

On foreign travel to Lima, Peru to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit 2008, November 21-23

OTHERS

Vice President Dick Cheney

12 PM

Delivers remarks at a reception for Congressional candidate John Fleming at a private residence in Shreveport, La

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer

On foreign travel to attend an international conference on biofuels in Sao Paulo, Brazil, November 20-21

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings

9 AM

Delivers remarks and administer the Oath of Office for the new and incumbent National Assessment Governing Board members

CONGRESS

SENATE

9 AM

House meets for possible legislative business and the possible consideration of economic recovery legislation.

HOUSE

Watch More TV

TiVO

The View: In a day-time talk-show twist, the ladies host Rachael Ray
Live with Regis and Kelly: 24’s Kiefer Sutherland
Elle DeGeneres: John Travolta
Tavis Smiley: Legendary singer Natalie Cole
George Stroumboulopoulos: Comic Russell Peters

Stay Up Late

David Letterman: Actor James Franco
Jay Leno: Former SNL comic, Jay Mohr
Conan O’Brien: 24’s Kiefer Sutherland and news anchor Rachel Maddow
Chelsea Lately, E!: Do you like your news Chocolate? Comic David Allan Grier

 

Eavesdrop

STEAL THIS AUDIO

Who: Cory Curl, Senior Research Analyst, Governor’s Office of State Planning and Policy (TN); Segun Eubanks, Director, Teacher Quality Department, National Education Association; Dan Goldhaber, Research Professor, University of Washington’s Bothell’s Center on Reinventing Public Education; Julie Kowal, Senior Consultant, Public Impact; Victoria Van Cleef, Vice President of Staffing Initiatives, The New Teacher Project.

What: Addressing the Teacher Quality Gap: Strategies to Attract Effective Teachers to Hard-to-Staff Schools

Where: The Center for American Progress

THE AUDIO

  • Julie Kowal: Any type of incentive, any form, can be effective when it’s tailored, but it has to be tailored to what the candidate wants and what the local need is.  One thing we might think about in education is a portfolio of incentives, so a set pot of money that can be distributed in a variety of forms so that it’s attractive to a diverse labor market and work force.
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  • Victoria can Cleef:  The saddest thing to me is that in our processes – and I would even frankly say sometimes in our contracts – we treat teachers like they’re a widget.  You are a plug ‘n’ play unit, and I can put you here or I can put you there and you just go do a good job.  I don’t care that you’re strong on content but weak on classroom management. Well, that principle is really strong in content and kind of weak in supporting people with classroom management. Go, good luck.  We don’t match people’s strengths and weaknesses. We don’t give thought to how we fill vacancies.
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  • Segun Eubanks: I think that the concept that we ought to pay teachers more, that the comparison – which is a very legitimate comparison – but the fact that we want to compare teaching at these schools to welding at the top of a tall building, or being at the front line of enemy fire in the military – is a moral disgrace, and something that I think we really want to keep at the front of our agenda when we look at building real comprehensive solutions to this.
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  • Cory Curl: A few years ago the Tennessee Department of Education convened a summit of officials from its largest urban districts, and they also invited a group of high school students from a local high school (and it was a very struggling school) and they were advocating for state and local policies that would help prepare and to guide them to college.  So they came and they gave a presentation, and then they stayed for the rest of the day.  And they all sat in the front row and it was wonderful.  And the next session facilitator – he was an expert on education equity – and he asked the audience, “What does equity mean to you?”  Well before any of the adults in the room even had time to process what question he was asking, one of the young ladies’ hands shot up.  And she said, “Equity is when everybody gets what they need in order to succeed.”
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Popularity Contest

HOTTEST!

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Masthead

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Mic Check is produced every weekday by Christy Harvey, Sara Langhinrichs and Nicole Murphy, and is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Read more about Mic Check.

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