Democrats miss an obvious lesson plan for deprived children

By George F. Will

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, like many liberals, seems afflicted by Sixties Nostalgia Syndrome, a longing for the high drama and moral clarity of the civil rights era. Speaking this month in Alabama at Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march, Duncan vowed to unleash on public schools legions of lawyers wielding Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They supposedly will rectify what he considers civil rights violations, such as too many white students in high school Advanced Placement classes.

Duncan said that "the civil rights struggle" has become "more complex since the days of Selma." He seems not to understand that today's complexities of equity are complex because they are not about "rights." He says his rights enforcers -- 600 of them, with a $103 million budget -- will "remedy discrimination," such as students being "treated unequally" by policies that have what is called a "disparate impact" on certain groups. For example, Duncan asks: "How can we assure that low-income Latino and African-American students get the same access to a college-prep curriculum, AP classes and college as other students?" But "access" obscures the problem.

The Supreme Court has held that Title VI bans "disparate treatment," meaning intentional discrimination such as denying access to minorities, not policies that have a "disparate impact" on minorities. No policy denies minority or low-income students "access" to AP classes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/19/AR2010031903679.html

The Death of Fiscal Federalism

It’s been a long time since economic policy was forged in the states.

Veronique de Rugy from the April 2010 issue

Last May the Obama administration forced South Carolina not just to take its share of federal stimulus funds, but to spend the money on new programs rather than paying down the state’s debt. I was horrified. Obama, I felt, had killed fiscal federalism. Then I realized that fiscal federalism has been dead for a long time. 

Fiscal federalism is the idea that states should set their own economic policies rather than following directives from Washington. Libertarians have a particular attachment to the concept. If states can differentiate themselves on the basis of taxes, spending, and regulation, that gives Americans more leeway in deciding the rules under which we live. If we’re dissatisfied with the policies of the state we live in, we can register our discontent by voting with our feet and moving to another jurisdiction. This competition for residents helps keep lawmakers in check, giving them an incentive to keep taxes and other intrusions modest.

For decades, alas, fiscal power has become increasingly centralized, making a joke of federalism. Washington has taken over more and more state functions, largely through grants to state and local governments, also called grants-in-aid. Figure 1 shows federal grant spending in constant dollars from 1960 to 2013. As you can see, total grant outlays increased from $285 billion in fiscal year 2000 to a whopping $493 billion in fiscal year 2010—a 73 percent increase. Grants also account for a bigger share of federal spending: 18 percent in 2009, compared to 7.6 percent in 1960.

http://reason.com/archives/2010/03/17/the-death-of-fiscal-federalism/print

Personal Income Drops Across the Country

By SARA MURRAY

Personal income in 42 states fell in 2009, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Nevada's 4.8% plunge was the steepest, as construction and tourism industries took a beating. Also hit hard: Wyoming, where incomes fell 3.9%.

Incomes stayed flat in two states and rose in six and the District of Columbia. West Virginia had the best showing with a 2.1% increase. In Maine, Kentucky and Hawaii, increased government benefits, such as unemployment insurance and Social Security, offset drops in earnings and property values.

Nationally, personal income from wages, dividends, rent, retirement plans and government benefits declined 1.7% last year, unadjusted for inflation. One bright spot: As the economy recovered, personal income was up in all 50 states in the fourth quarter compared with the third. Connecticut, again, had the highest per capita income of the 50 states at $54,397 in 2009. Mississippi ranked lowest at $30,103.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703409804575144033573666238.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

Upset Vote Reshapes Iraq

Scramble Is On to Form a Ruling Coalition as Minority Sunnis Take First Place

By MARGARET COKER

BAGHDAD—Ayad Allawi's predominantly Sunni alliance won Iraq's national election, narrowly edging out Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's list to become the largest bloc in the country's next parliament, and kicking off a scrum among political and religious blocs to
form a majority government.

The Allawi upset threatens to end the lock on power that Iraq's majority Shiites have enjoyed since 2003 after decades of oppression under the Sunni-led government of Saddam Hussein, and could severely test the country's fragile institutions. In the two weeks between the March 7 election and the vote tallies Friday, Shiite politicians warned of violence should their parties lose the election.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703416204575145952052909276.html?mod=e2tw

PM: No change in policy on Jerusalem

By JPOST.COM STAFF
26/03/2010 12:32

5-hour long 'Septet' discussion on US demands yields no decisions.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened his senior ministers in Jerusalem on Friday afternoon to discuss the demands made by US President Barack Obama and his overall trip to Washington – a trip that, because of negative atmospherics and amid a paucity of hard information, has been widely characterized as among the most difficult in recent memory.

Late Friday evening, Israel Radio reported that Netanyahu holds to the view that Israel must not change its policy in Jerusalem, despite the fact that this was the main point of contentions between Israel and the United States.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=171889

Charges Reduced In Phone Caper At Senator's Office

North Korea vows 'nuclear strikes' in latest threat

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
26/03/2010 08:51

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea's military warned South Korea and the United States on Friday of "unprecedented nuclear strikes" as it expressed anger over a report the two countries plan to prepare for possible instability in the totalitarian country, a scenario it dismissed as a "pipe dream."

The North routinely issues such warnings. Diplomats in South Korea and the US have repeatedly called on Pyongyang to return to international negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear programs.

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=171883

2nd pick for transportation security chief is out

By EILEEN SULLIVAN Associated Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press

March 26, 2010, 8:55PM

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's second choice for transportation security chief has withdrawn from consideration because of questions over his background as a defense contractor.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding took himself out of the running Friday night as head of the Transportation Security Administration, another setback for Obama after his first choice withdrew in January.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6932326.html

TUCSON, Ariz. – John McCain sought to nullify the energy his primary challenger was getting from the Tea Party movement by bringing in its biggest star for a major endorsement rally in Tucson Friday.

J.D. Hayworth, the former congressman challenging McCain from the right, has tried to harness the energy of those affiliated with the anti-tax, anti-government Tea Party groups. But Sarah Palin rode to her former running mate’s aid.

In a speech to a boisterous crowd of some 4,000, Palin portrayed McCain as a champion of the movement's views.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/89391-palin-woos-mccain-supporters-in-tucson

I will be traveling for most of the afternoon and will return to blogging later in the evening.

S. Korean navy ship sinks in waters near N. Korea

By KWANG-TAE KIM

The Associated Press
Friday, March 26, 2010; 12:52 PM

SEOUL, South Korea -- Military officials say a South Korean navy ship has sunk off an island not far from North Korea.

An official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said early Saturday that the ship sank some four hours after it began taking on water. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with department policy.

The official said at least 58 of the 104 crew members have been rescued. There was no immediate confirmation of casualties. A rescue operation was still under way.

The cause of the sinking was not immediately clear.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032602026.html?hpid=topnews

Via Big Government:

2010: A Race Odyssey — Disproving a Negative for Cash Prizes or, How the Civil Rights Movement Jumped the Shark

by Andrew Breitbart

As I have said over and over and over, the left has one trick that it will use again and again when its back is in the corner: shout ‘racist’ in a crowded country.

On Saturday, during the peaceful and patriotic tea party protest at the Capitol, the Democrats staged a series of symbolic acts meant to manipulate the media to do its bidding. The Congressional Black Caucus pulled the Selma card and chose to walk through the crowd in the hopes of creating a YouTube incident. This is what it looked like:

...

There is no reason in 21st century America on an issue that is not a black or white or a civil rights issue to have a bloc of black people walk slowly through a mostly white crowd to make a racial point. The walk in and of itself — with two of the participants holding their handheld cameras above their heads hoping to document “proof” — was an act of racism meant to create a contrast between the tea party crowd and themselves.

...

Let’s remember that Nancy Pelosi followed this procession with a “perp walk” of her own, as she carried the giant gavel that hammered down the passage of Medicare in 1965 to its rendezvous with destiny. Does any rational person seriously believe that the Capitol Police or her security people would have let the Speaker of the House — second in line of succession to the presidency, right after the Vice President — walk into danger as alleged by the Congressional Black Caucus? Please.

That’s how much the Democrats need a racist Tea Party moment. To stop it in its tracks. That’s why on Saturday they used the Congressional Black Caucus to try to manufacture the false appearance of one. And when they didn’t get it, they did what they always do: they lied.

Alinsky taught them well: the ends justify the means. And that’s how the Democrats play. They love using black people as symbols of oppression. They love to use them for staged rallies, staged walks and staged protests. It’s why they fought so hard to keep the heavily minority ACORN alive. They were the portable army that would cry racism in front of your place of business until the company paid them off to go away.

http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/03/25/2010-a-race-odyssey-disproving-a-negative-for-cash-prizes-or-how-the-civil-rights-movement-jumped-the-shark/

Via HotAirPundit:

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - Reverend Jeremiah Wright commented Thursday on the controversy surrounding his fiery sermons brought up during President Barack Obama's campaign for the White House and the angry opposition to the historic new healthcare law.

...

Asked if he regretted any of his controversial sermons Wright said, "I haven't been apart of any controversy, number one. Fox News bought 4-thousand dollars worth of tapes 20-years to go back to see what Obama had been listening to. Those sermons that they aired and news clips that the nation saw were 5-years old and 7-years-old, so that was not part of the presidential campaign. The media made the controversy; not Jeremiah Wright."

And on the name calling and anger over the health care law, Wright said, "..it's all part of that kind of hatred that runs in the country for people of color and for the poor. In fact, the whole compromise; it took the public option off the table in terms of the health care bill shows you the power of the rich and the wealthy in this country to continue to ignore the poor."

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=12207892

Unemployment benefits set to expire April 5

By Ben Pershing

Friday, March 26, 2010

Unemployment benefits are set to expire for at least a week on April 5, as Congress plans to break for two weeks without agreeing on an extension of the program.

Last week, the House approved a $9 billion measure containing one-month extensions of unemployment insurance, COBRA health benefits and federal flood insurance. Senate Democrats hoped to have their chamber approve the same bill Thursday. But Republicans refused, complaining that the bill is not offset with spending cuts elsewhere.

They said the same thing in early March, when Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) brought the chamber to a halt for five days over another extension that wasn't offset. 

...

The Senate GOP's refusal to agree to the House's version of the bill was led by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who objected to bringing up the bill. Coburn said that by adding to the federal deficit, we are "stealing future opportunity from our children."

But Democrats -- emboldened by the public relations victory they believe they won during Bunning's stand -- laid blame for the impasse at the feet of Coburn and his fellow Republicans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032504424.html