Tuesday, September 30

A must read over at Ed Cone's site. In his post, "Scholars vs Dollars," Cone publishes the correspondences betwee a UNC-G professor and a Heritage Foundation think tanker. Here is his intro:
What happens when an actual scholar takes on one of those think-tank scholars-for-dollars? The idealogue loses.

Joseph Loconte, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, challenged UNCG professor Bob Wineburg
over an article Wineburg wrote on Bush's "faith-based" social services.

Wineburg wrote in the July 31 issue of Martin Marty's electronic newsletter, Sightings: "(W)hy is there a second Faith-Based Initiative? The answer is in a braided, yet discernable set of motives and activities that underscore the President's efforts: religious, social engineering, and votes, namely, black votes."

Loconte responded to Sightings, then engaged in an email conversation directly with Wineburg.

Go read the back and forth. Try not to come away hopeless for those at Heritage.