Readers of this blog from the start may remember that one of my biggest problems with people in the charter school world is their bizarre tendency to act like doormats. They so often have all these great ideas but then they let the education and political establishment walk all over them.

So it's energizing when you get to see a pulse emerging every now and then. Check out Peter Murphy's comments in Cara Mathews' story on the NYSUT study sent to legislators on Friday arguing that charter schools stink: "They are acting like a schoolyard bully to this fledgling reform movement that's showing real success for children by coming out with an 11th-hour hit-job, pretending to be a study, that's unworthy of a high-school research class." A solid political response to a blatantly political document.

Another comes from Green Dot's Steve Barr, who is gathering all sorts of momentum out on the west coast with his brand of unionized charter schools. Barr, who got a bit testy after the city's teacher union boss started talking out of his rump, asked a reporter an interesting rhetorical question that involved pigs and the union boss' sexual habits. Wow.