The Cost of War:

Nicholas Kristof makes a strong case for shifting American policy from war to education in Afghanistan in today's New York Times. According to Kristof, the cost for keeping one American soldier in Afghanistan is equivalent to the price for building 20 schools.

So why has President Obama followed the route of the previous administration in pumping even more money into the war effort? Votes. The same reason JFK and LBJ followed a failed Vietnam strategy. The White House, regardless of who occupies it, is incapable, apparently, of standing up to the military-industrial complex that profits so highly from a state of war.

Some of the money, naturally, goes into soldiers' paychecks, but that amount is pennies compared to the dollars that enrich the arms manufacturers. Not to mention the mercenary industry that has taken over so much of what the military used to do.

And let's not forget the generals, whose careers only advance during a time of war.

Who Will Speak Truth to Power Now?

The last of the truly great newsmen has passed: Daniel Shore, the newsman Nixon hated most, has died at the age of 93. (See the NPR story.)


Jim Thorpe's Children Want Their Father to Come Home:

Back in 1953, the third Mrs. Jim Thorpe, with aid of police, stole Jim Thorpe's body from his children, in the middle of the night, and transported half-way across the country from Oklahoma, where "the world's greatest athlete" was born, to Philadelphia. She was trying to sell it, but she found few takers.

Ironically, this was only two years after the Burt Lancaster film, Jim Thorpe-All-American, was released. No doubt, Mrs. Thorpe believed the city of Carlisle, not far from Philadelphia and the place where Jim came to national prominence for his athletic abilities, would pay handsomely for the right to bury his body.

While in Philadelphia, Mrs. Thorpe learned of a pair of little towns some 100 miles north that had accumulated cash in an attempt to revitalize themselves. How she learned about this has never been made exactly clear. Eventually, she sold Jim's body to the two towns, one of which is the county seat of Carbon county, and the two towns became one. A mausoleum was built and the new town was renamed in honor of Jim Thorpe.

To this day, no one knows how much money actually passed hands in the deal or who the men were who accompanied the third Mrs. Thorpe were. This aspect of the transaction has never been discussed publicly. (See The New York Times' story.)

The New GM:

The Washington Post investigates the exponentially expanding growth industry of intelligence gathering, reported by Dana Priest and William M. Arkin. Since 9/11/2001, America's biggest growth industry has been the spy business. The obesity of the industry has made its effectiveness highly questionable, and no one seems to be in control.

Could it be true?

Frank Rich proclaims, "The death throes of Mel Gibson's career feel less like another Hollywood scandal than the last gasps of an American era" in today's New York Times. Rich's thesis is that the actor's recent problems are indicative of the collapse of the religious right.

It's certainly interesting times for the political right. Republicans everywhere are seeking Sarah Palin's endorsement (and PAC money), but when questioned, no one seems to want the Alaskan grizzly to run for office. (See The New York Times' story.)

President Roosevelt's 2nd Bill of Rights:

It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

—From Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1944 State of the Union Address to congress.

Computers Fail to Save Literacy:

School administrators, computer manufacturers, and parents who want to ignore their children were all thrilled at the prospect that isolating children in front of a computer screen would turn American youth into Einsteins, but the truth is becoming abundantly clear that much the opposite has been taking place.

IQ scores and just about every other form of testing indicates that kids, especially those on the bottom half of the economic scale, end up even more poorly prepared as a result of spending more time in front of their computer monitors. (See today's New York Times.) In fact, about the only thing that kids become better at while using computers is learning how to evade the "parental controls" placed on computers to prevent them from participating in "inappropriate activities."

This is bad news for computer and soft ware makers, who have raked in bundles of cash on the assertion that any sort of interaction with a computer would enhance learning. It may be even worse news for school administrators who live and die by enhancing their budgets anyway possible. (Parents who want to ignore their kids will do so anyway, so the news just means they need to find another way to assuage their guilt. In other words, they'll adapt.)

NOTE: Significant evidence indicates that actually having books in the home enhances literacy more than just about anything else one can do.


"Show Him the Money":

Washington Monthly profiles one of America's great scam artists, Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. This is another example lobbying gone awry.

Here's the most telling paragraph:

What becomes clear from observing Donohue’s record is that, for all his opposition to federal oversight, he is a quintessential creature of Washington. Like the head of any bureaucracy or agency, he measures his success far less by results than by the size of his budget. That’s why the Chamber’s agenda hews so closely to that of its largest contributors. It’s also why, even in front of dues payers such as Birmingham business leaders, Donohue is happy to trumpet how much money the Chamber is taking from them. Those funds don’t need to lead to accomplishments; they are the accomplishments.

In other economic news: Wall Street is hiring. Analysts predict the hiring increase indicates the economic recovery is underway. (See The New York Times' story.)