Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Overrating Education
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
— Herbert George Wells, The Outline of History
It shows perspicacity-the ongoing attacks on children, teachers and, collectively, education, by national and state leaders alike. What is being made increasingly apparent by people around the world is that it is a waste of money and we should not lament the shrinking funds available to it because of budget problems.
Although none of the proposals is final since right now the federal government is operating on a two-week budget, the budget bill in the House of Representatives would, as structured the end of February, take 218,000 children from the rolls of Headstart. It would make cuts to elementary schools affecting 1 million students. Pell Grants for post-high school students would be cut by nearly $6 billion. None of these cuts includes what is being contemplated in assorted state houses where funds for education are being led to slaughter. In Colorado a Democratic governor has proposed cutting funding for education by $332 million. The Education Sector, a nonpartisan education policy think tank says 44 states and the District of Columbia anticipate a $125 billion shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 2011. The good news is that figures on the world stage are demonstrating that education is not as important as it was once thought to be.
Laurent Gbabgo has been president of the Ivory Coast since 2000. He was defeated by Alassane Ouattara in an election that was held in 2010 but has refused to step down even though the international community has proclaimed Mr. Ouattara the winner. Mr. Ouattara is kept prisoner in the Gulf Hotel in Abidjan surrounded by Mr. Gbabgo’s forces. On March 3, 2011, thousands of unarmed women marched in the streets of Abidjan demanding that he step down as president. Mr. Gbagbo responded by sending out armored vehicles to greet the protestors. At least 8 unarmed women were killed. Mr. Gbabgo received his PhD in 1979 at Paris Diderot University in 1979. In 1980 he became Director of the Institute of History, Art, and African Archeology at the University of Abidjan.
Seif al-Islam el-Ghadafi is the son of Muammar el-Qaddafi and is loyal to his father who is in the midst of retaining control of Libya, a country he has ruled for more than 40 years. Muammar is a ruler who has only the best interests of his people at heart and will kill as many as necessary in order to be able to stay in power so he can continue to look out for their welfare. Commenting on reports of violent confrontations between his dad’s supporters and his dad’s enemies, Seif said: “There’s a big gap between reality and the media reports.” He said to ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, that reports that his dad was ordering helicopter gunships to fire on civilians were wrong. He told her: “Show me a single attack. Show me a single bomb. Show me a single casualty. The Libyan air force destroyed just the ammunition sites.” In earlier comments he said if his dad got booted there would be civil war and “rivers of blood.” Seif did his undergraduate work at Tripoli’s Al Fateh University and earned an MBA from IMADEC University in Vienna in 2000. In 2008 he received his PhD from the London School of Economics.
Bashar al-Assad has been the president of Syria since 2000 when his father who had ruled Syria since 1970, died. Syrians who were watching what was happening in countries around them began peaceful protests against Bashar’s government. Bashar had police beat and arrest the protestors, including two women. The 2010 Human Rights Watch report said the “poor human rights situation [in Syria] deteriorated further in 2009, as the authorities arrested political and human rights activists, censored websites, detained bloggers, and imposed travel bans. . . . Syria’s multiple security agencies continue to detain people without arrest warrants. . . . Syria’s repressive policies toward its Kurdish minority continue. Security agencies prevented political and cultural gatherings, and regularly detain and try Kurdish activists demanding increased political rights and recognition of Kurdish culture.”
Baashar attended medical school at the University of Damascus Faculty of Medicine, completed his ophthalmology residency training in Tishreen Military Hospital of Damascus and received subspecialty training in ophthalmology at the Western Eye Hospital in London.
Republicans are trying to cut expenses for the federal government. In addition to the savings outlined above, they propose to reduce funding for the IRS by $600 million. For every $1.00 the IRS spends chasing tax cheats it collects $10.00. If it used all the $600 million chasing tax cheats it would collect an additional $6 billion.
Between domestic politicians and African leaders it’s hard to argue against cutting funds for education. They demonstrate that an education is of little lasting value.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Cigarettes and Sinners
Confession of our faults is the next thing to innocence.
— Publilius Syrus, Maxim 1060 (First Century b.c.)
I’d rather be a Catholic than a cigarette company. Confessions are done in private, and priests (and God) are more forgiving of past transgressions than the Justice Department (and judges.) As Catholic On-Line explains it, “The basic requirement for a good Confession is to have the intention of returning to God like the “prodigal son” and to acknowledge our sins with true sorrow before the priest.” Once a Catholic has confessed to a specific sin in the privacy of the Confessional, the appropriate punishment is imposed by the priest and the penitent can go on about his/her business confident that the transgression has been forgiven. The Pope’s confessional is a kind of one stop shopping for forgiveness whereas the legal confessional, at least as interpreted by Judge Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, more closely resembles Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter.
In 2006 Judge Kessler issued a final judgment in a civil RICO (Racketeering) case that the Department of Justice brought against the tobacco industry as a whole. She said tobacco companies violated civil racketeering laws and defrauded the American people by lying for decades about the health risks of smoking and their marketing to children. In her 1682 page opinion opinion.pdf she said that: “the Court will order Defendants to make corrective statements about addiction (that both nicotine and cigarette smoking are addictive); the adverse health effects of smoking (all the diseases which smoking has been proven to cause); the adverse health effects of exposure to ETS [environmental tobacco smoke](all the diseases which exposure to ETS has been proven to cause); their manipulation of physical and chemical design of cigarettes (that Defendants do manipulate design of cigarettes in order to enhance the delivery of nicotine); and light and low tar cigarettes (that they are no less hazardous than full-flavor cigarettes). Within sixty days of the issuance of this opinion and order, both parties will submit a proposal for the exact wording of these statements. After the Court approves particular statements, Defendants must publish such corrective statements in newspapers and disseminate them through television, Within sixty days of the issuance of this opinion and order, both parties will submit a proposal for the exact wording of these statements.”
All the appeals have now been exhausted, Judge Kessler’s opinion is final and the Justice Department has come up with proposed language that has been made public over the tobacco companies’ objections.
Some of the Justice Department proposals as to what the cigarette companies must say in their ads and on cigarette packages are in the nature of a confession that might be heard by a priest in a confessional. One suggested confession says: “We falsely marketed low tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes to keep people smoking and sustain our profits. We knew that many smokers switch to low tar and light cigarettes rather than quitting because they believe low tar and lights are less harmful. They are NOT.” Another says: “We told Congress under oath that we believed nicotine is not addictive. We told you that smoking is not an addiction and all it takes to quit is will power. Here’s the truth: Smoking is very addictive. And it’s not easy to quit.”
Not all the suggestions are in the nature of confessions. Some simply describe the hazards posed by the cigarette. One, for example, says: “A federal court is requiring tobacco companies to tell the truth about cigarette smoking. Here’s the truth: . . . Smoking kills 1,200 Americans. Every day.” Another says: “Just because lights and low tar cigarettes feel smoother, that doesn’t mean they are any better for you. Light cigarettes can deliver the same amounts of tar and nicotine as regular cigarettes.” Another says: For decades, we denied that we controlled the level of nicotine delivered in cigarettes. Here’s the truth: Cigarettes are a finely-tuned nicotine delivery device designed to addict people; We control nicotine delivery to create and sustain smokers’ addiction, because that’s how we keep customers coming back; We also add chemicals, such as ammonia, to enhance the impact of nicotine and make cigarettes taste less harsh; When you smoke, the nicotine actually changes the brain-that’s why quitting is so hard; . . . .” This last statement is so detailed that it is probably similar to what a murderer might come up with when confessing sins in a Confessional.
March 3 promises to be an exciting day. That is the deadline for the tobacco companies to respond to the language proposed by the Justice Department. It is not often the sinner has a chance to weigh in on the kind of punishment that is appropriate. Priests do not ask confessors how many Hail Maries they think are appropriate for the sins to which they’ve confessed. My guess is Judge Kessler, like a priest, will not give the sinners’ suggestions much weight.
Friday, February 25, 2011
The Gratitude in Baghdad
Some praise at morning what they blame at night,
But always think the last opinion right.
— Alexander Pope, The Temple of Fame
One bit news coming out of Iraq suggests that in at least one respect Iraq has modeled itself after its invaders. It comes as a welcome antidote to the bad news coming out of other places in that part of the world.
In Bahrain where the United States Fifth Fleet is docked when it’s not sailing around protecting the United States’ vital interests, the Bahrain royal family whom the U.S. been supporting for almost 50 years, took offense at the notion that its people might favor greater freedom, similar, perhaps, to the freedom enjoyed by its benefactors. It expressed its offense by killing and clubbing demonstrators who were peacefully expressing their hopes for those greater freedoms. As of this writing, the Bahrain royal family has said it’s sorry for having clubbed and killed those peacefully seeking greater freedoms and now wants to talk with its citizens. That makes those not clubbed and killed feel a bit better.
Another good friend that disappoints is Afghanistan, the country into which the United States continues to pour money and blood. Although the war there is not going as well as one might wish, in at least one respect, Afghanistan is doing exceptionally well. According to Transparency International’s annual list of corruption in 178 countries that was published in October 2010, Afghanistan is number 176. The downside is that unlike some scoring systems , the higher the number, the worse the result. Only two countries on the list are more corrupt than Afghanistan: Myanmar, formerly known as Burma (home to the almost perpetually house arrested Aung San Suu Ky) and Somalia, a country which as far as can be determined, has been without a government of any sort for years. With all that dismal news and the uprisings in other countries in that part of the world, news from Iraq offered a bit of relief.
Although random attacks in Baghdad and outlying areas continue at an alarming rate and a Day of Rage was planned for February 25 to protest a lack of government services in the city, in at least one respect Iraq is adapting to the United States way of doing things-assigning blame when bad things happen. In mid-February, Hakeem Abdul Zahra, a spokesman for the city of Baghdad, said the invasion of Iraq by United States forces inflicted considerable damage on Baghdad. This does not come as a surprise to anyone who has seen television footage of what went on in that country after it was invaded in 2002. What is surprising is that it took almost 10 years for any Baghdad official to point this out. Equally surprising it that the damage about which he complains is limited to the erection of blast walls and the use of humvees within the city limits of Baghdad. Damage inflicted by bombs was not mentioned. In demanding payment of damages of $1 billion and an apology, Zahra said: “The U.S. forces changed this beautiful city to a camp in an ugly and destructive way, which reflected deliberate ignorance and carelessness about the simplest forms of public taste. Due to the huge damage, leading to a loss the Baghdad municipality cannot afford. . . we demand the American side apologize to Baghdad’s people and pay back these expenses.” Elaborating on his concerns he said that sewer and water systems have been damaged by the heavy walls that were erected to protect against the force of blasts, humvees that were carrying troops did not always stay on roadways but sometimes drove on median strips and through gardens, ruining the vegetation. These violations Sahra said, caused “economic and moral damage.”
In the overall scheme of things, the amount being requested by Zahra is modest. Although different analysts assess the cost of the war in Iraq differently, it seems fairly clear that any way the amount is calculated, the war has been an expensive undertaking. In an analysis by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes in the Washington Post last September, the overall cost was estimated to be $3 trillion. The Cost of War analysis is somewhat more modest, placing the cost at just under $800 billion. Whichever figure you believe, what the city of Baghdad is requesting is a modest amount. Using the Cost of War analysis, the damages sought are only 1/800th of the total cost of the war and that does not seem like an unreasonable request for reimbursement.
The request proves that the Iraqis are good students. In the United States there is a belief that when bad things happen it is someone else’s fault and the offending party should be made to pay. That is true even if the offending party was trying to help the party aggrieved. The planned Day of Rage suggests that Iraq may not have learned from its invaders how to govern. Zahra’s demand suggests it has at least learned to assert its rights when it believes it has been wronged. Time will tell whether that is a good thing.