-
Let Syria Play Out
May 7, 2013 | 6 comments
-
Happy Birthday, Willie
April 30, 2013 | 10 comments
-
George Jones RIP
April 26, 2013 | 7 comments
-
Two-by-Four Did It for the Mule
April 17, 2013 | 2 comments
-
Obama AWOL
April 17, 2013 | 8 comments
The Spectacle Blog
In testimony before a Senate committee Thursday, Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan admitted he doesn’t know what the word “tautology” means. This is a bit peculiar for the guy at the top of the education industry, who we would expect to be conversant with his native language. But it’s hardly disabling. English is a very large language, and language instruction in recent decades has been very small.
What’s more troubling is that, on the available evidence from a school near you, our Arne, and his legions of edu-bureaucrats, almost certainly doesn’t know what education means either. And as he is education minister for the most left-wing president in our history, he either doesn’t know or has no sympathy for the verity that education in America is a state and local responsibility. At least it was when we were still a republic, rather than the Dr. Moreau hybrid the political class has caused us to morph into.
View all comments (4) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Larry Thornberry
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/02/08/what-what
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.8.13 @ 3:24PM
Gees, a first year logic class would have helped. A tautalogy is something that is true under every interpretation (picture rows of a truth table). Or more simply something that is true by definition.
JimH| 2.9.13 @ 8:49AM
That is the formal logic definition. In general more common use it is a bit different. From Wikipedia:
Tautology (rhetoric), using different words to say the same thing, or a series of self-reinforcing statements that cannot be disproved because they depend on the assumption that they are already correct
Tautology (logic), a technical notion in formal logic, universal unconditioned truth, always valid
Mike G| 2.9.13 @ 10:01AM
These posts by CVR and JimH explain why Arne didn't knw the definition. I don't think anyone in the King's administration believes that ANYTHING is ALWAYS true or logical. That would make it too difficult for them to advance their king's agenda by using their idiotic rhetoric.
Occam's Tool| 2.9.13 @ 11:51AM
Watching the Obama administration in action is like watching the bullish traders in 1999 telling you that you should ignore P/E ratios of 120, and that there was still an upside in those stocks.
The principles of logic have never been an Obama strongpoint. Vern, you are always welcome in Northwest Minnesota should you find yourself here. Just let me know, and the beer's on me.