Saturday, September 27, 2003
Shashi Tharoor on America and the UN
I first heard Shashi Tharoor speak at the opening ceremony of NMUN 2002, and I was impressed by his candor and his articulate speaking style. As a higher-up at the UN, he's of course got a pro-UN agenda to push whenever he speaks or writes publicly in defense of the organization, but I find his arguments nonetheless compelling and worth heeding. Here's his latest article in Foreign Affairs. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Tharoor turns up some day as UN Secretary-General.
Friday, September 26, 2003
Out of Place
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Lawyers do what they do best: litigate!
Law schools that do not allow recruiters with discriminatory policies on campus are suing to overturn the Solomon Amendment. The amendment requires all universities that receive federal aid to allow military recruiters on campus. Since the military discriminates against homosexuals under "don't ask, don't tell", the law schools (and by extension all schools) have a valid shot at getting rid of this stupid provision, which is similar to some provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (requiring disclosure of student records to recruiters). Maybe the courts will rule against No Child Left Behind's military provision as well. That's not to say I'm against military recruiters on campus, but the decision to let them come should be left to school administrators, not Congress.
(see also: The Misedumacation of George W. Bush)
(see also: The Misedumacation of George W. Bush)
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Long day's journey into night
The Misedumacation of George W. Bush
Surprise! "No Child Left Behind" is leaving children behind by creating unfair burdens on schools. It's not that teachers, administrators, and lawmakers don't want higher education standards, it's that the Bush administration isn't giving schools enough money to meet these new standards. $87 billion for Iraq? How about $87 billion for the schools of Harlem and South Central?
On a side note, did you know the NCLB law requires disclosure of students' information to military recruiters? (I might have sent this item out before on infOrgasm e-mail.)
On a side note, did you know the NCLB law requires disclosure of students' information to military recruiters? (I might have sent this item out before on infOrgasm e-mail.)
¡Economía loca!
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
And then there were 10...
Friday, September 12, 2003
Re: Hey big spender (more)
This week's BusinessWeek takes an inside look at Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton unit to which the Pentagon has outsourced much of the Iraqi reconstruction. Halliburton, of course, is Dick Cheney's old employer. It's not so much the big government vs. small government (Democrat vs. Republican) argument that bothers me as much as KB&R being the latter-day exemplar of Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex" gone mad. We are this close to the point where KB&R becomes a mercenary force and not just another defense contractor. And I just don't think the American public, whose money KB&R is pocketing, is getting the best deal from this state of affairs. After all, it was KB&R who wrote the Army's Iraq oil rebuilding plan, the same plan later used to justify the lack of competitive bidding when KB&R got the Iraq job. Why is it that Republicans continue to claim that the free market is the economic panacea when (at least the current GOP leadership) anti-competitively cozys up so much with big business?
Thursday, September 11, 2003
No sex in Westminster rooms
A British parliamentary inquiry has found the Iraq dossier wasn't "sexed up" by the Defence Ministry. However, the separate Hutton inquiry into Dr. David Kelly's death is still ongoing.
"O brave new world, that has such people in't"
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Back to school
Monday, September 08, 2003
Hey big spender
Still think the Republicans are the party of small government? I've got some Niger WMD evidence to sell you...
Thursday, September 04, 2003
Kim Jong-Il blogs!
Well, at least he's got a fan in the blogosphere. Check out the Illmatic's blog.
More North Korean fun.
More North Korean fun.
