Daily Archives: July 4, 2005

Pentagon seeks troops at the track

July 4, 200512:02 a.m.

With the U.S. military struggling to meet its recruiting goals, it makes sense that it’s looking for ways to be savvier about marketing itself to tomorrow’s troops. But some of the methods seem desperate (driving black Hummers throbbing with hip-hop through urban neighborhoods?). And doesn’t the Pentagon risk sending the wrong message by sponsoring a NASCAR team at the same time that veterans’ health care is nearly $1 billion unfunded (a problem addressed by emergency funding bills passed last week on Capitol Hill).
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (81)

Forgetting federalism?

July 4, 200512:01 a.m.

FYI: Richard Nadler, president of America’s Majority, blasts the Kansas Supreme Court’s school finance ruling in a commentary in National Review Online. Some of his criticisms:
"Judges, legislatures and school have coexisted for a century and a half in the Sunflower State without it entering the heads of judges to replace the role of the legislatures in appropriating for the schools."
"It was a persistent dream of socialist thinkers of the 20th century to replace the noisy, class-influenced machinery of democracy with a professional corps of experts who would design economic and social institutions in the interests of the people. In Montoy, the Kansas supremes set their hands to it."
"The court adopted a single study by a single committee of the Legislature. The justices treated its proposals as law, and rammed them down the throats of all concerned."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (12)

Why let Novak off the hook?

July 4, 200512:00 a.m.

The U.S. Supreme Court did little last week to keep some reporters from being roughed up by lower courts for failing to reveal their sources. That’s troubling, because of the chilling effect it could have on aggressive reporting. Then there is this: The New York Times’ Judith Miller and Time’s Matthew Cooper, who did not use CIA agent Valerie Plame’s name, could face jail time for not revealing who leaked it to them. Yet conservative columnist Robert Novak, who used the name, faces no such jail time. What gives?
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (32)