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Friday, January 19, 2007
Emory aid, Durham DA and USS Ford
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s free-for-all Friday. Pick a topic:
• The best book yet to be written is the Duke University rape case. Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, who probably should be disbarred, has turned the case over to the state’s attorney general, who appointed two special prosecutors. The story here is the rush to judgment by Nifong, Duke faculty and others. Who said and did what and when — and why — would make a great tale of hysteria driven by political correctness to the point of ruining lives.
• President Ronald Reagan’s defense buildup contributed significantly to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The headline “Builders push poor out of central Beijing” suggests another possible secret weapon in America’s arsenal. Send the American Civil Liberties Union to China. It won’t survive the litigation.
• Unless it’s a crook, the state Department of Education should be careful not to go overboard in cracking down on the tutoring firms that have sprung up under No Child Left Behind. Ultimately, the state and parents should decide whether the tutoring service is doing their child any good. The focus always should be toward pushing parents to make decisions and accept responsibility — with information gathered and disseminated by the state.
• Colleges and universities would have to keep the visas of foreign students on file, track their immigration status and prohibit students with expired visas from attending class under a bill sponsored in the House by state Rep. Burke Day (R-Tybee Island). And the controversy is? Do it.
• No problem here with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s decision not to push Voter ID right now. The election didn’t change last year’s vote tally. Clearly, until four Senate Democrats sign on to the required constitutional amendment, the GOP lacks the two-thirds majority needed to pass it.
When we know the outcome in advance, why bother with the speeches?
• Super new program at Emory University will commit to families with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 that their child won’t have to take out more than $15,000 in student loans over four years. The rich can pay and the poor get financial assistance at expensive private colleges; the ones out in the cold are children of the middle class. This throws them a lifeline, too.
• The U.S. Navy will name its next aircraft carrier the USS Gerald R. Ford. It’s right in two respects: Ford loved and served in the Navy during World War II. And the honor comes after his death — which is when names should be attached to public buildings, roads, facilities and vessels.
• Praise be. The U.S. Senate voted this week to require senators to publicly reveal their pork, both the earmarks tucked into federal spending and all nonfederal appropriations. Passage is a tribute to U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who has long championed earmarks reform, and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who insisted on toughening up legislation passed by the House earlier this month. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) originally opposed DeMint, but capitulated after Coburn pointed out that the Democratic bill would cover only 5 percent of the 13,000 earmarks passed last year. It’ll be a great day for taxpayers when earmarks disclosure becomes law.
• “Paper kills,” says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Not this one … our competitors, maybe. Well, not kill. Mostly bore. All of which is beside the point. The old system of physician hen-scratches is dangerous. A new Internet site, a joint venture of technology and health care companies, enables physicians to prescribe electronically for free. This is one of those dozens of reforms needed in the way we deliver, pay for and consume health care services. Gingrich, its champion, could be a serious contender for president if the nation makes health care costs and outcomes its top priority.
• When there are fewer mourners and drier eyes at your funeral than at Ralph the whale shark’s at the Georgia Aquarium, the moral is not that you were a nobody, but that you’ve left a world that has lost its capacity to recognize the difference between humans and other forms of life. Soon we’ll be holding wakes for mink coats.
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