Monthly Archives: June 2014

Who’s More Valuable?

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A soldier of questionable motive, but who acted deliberately and wound up in enemy hands, or a soldier of clear motive, but who made a traffic error and wound up in an “ally’s” jail?

Obama announced Saturday in a dramatic Rose Garden news conference that five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay would be exchanged for [Army Sgt Bowe] Bergdahl, a 28-year-old infantryman held captive for five years by the terrorist group. The swap angered many in the military and on Capitol Hill, because it went against long-standing policy of not bargaining with terrorists.

On the other hand, we get

Although [Marine Sgt Andrew] Tahmooressi is not a prisoner of war, he served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, and now suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, according to his mother, Jill Tahmooressi. Friends who have visited him in [the Mexican] prison say he has been tortured and threatened with rape and death, and they question whether the administration is doing enough to help him.

Congressman Duncan Hunter (R, CA) observed

[A]s far the Administration went for Bergdahl, Andrew Tahmooressi is still stuck in a Mexican jail for making a wrong turn, and the only thing grabbing the president’s attention so far is an online petition that forces him to respond.

If he responds to the petition at all. In the meantime, neither our Secretary of State and ex-motor boat skipper, John Kerry, nor our President and ex-community organizer, Barack Obama, have troubled themselves to pick up a phone and make a call to Mexico.

It’s pretty clear where this administration’s values lie. Keep it in mind this fall.

Religious Freedom

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Lebanon High School Principal Kevin Lowery gave a commencement address to his high school students. In the course of his speech, he spoke repeatedly of God and His role in our individual lives and in the life of our nation. Among other things, he reminded his students that our national motto is “In God We Trust,” and that it is imprinted on all of our currency. He gave a short history lesson, generally absent from the classes, that Francis Scott Key’s original version of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” made references to God.

Lowery also wryly noted during the May 23 commencement that even though “God is reflected in the very fabric” of the nation, it would be inappropriate to mention The Almighty at a secular ceremony.

“So while it would not be politically correct for us to have an official prayer this evening,” he said, “I would like for us to have a moment of silence in honor of tonight’s graduates. Thank you. And just in case you’re interested, during my moment of silence, I gave thanks to God for these great students, their parents, their teachers, and for this community.”

A YouTube clip of Lowry’s address is here. Among the comments on the clip, Dave Muscato, Public Relations Director for American Atheists, had this to say:

I find this extremely objectionable. I think it’s clear that Kevin Lowery violated the spirit of the First Amendment separations of religion and government. This was an underhanded and dishonorable way for him to forcibly inject his personal religious views onto his students and the others present and into his role as a government official.

That’s…unfortunate. I find Muscato’s comment extremely objectionable. I think it’s clear that David Muscato is trying to violate the spirit of the First Amendment’s free exercise of religion. This is an underhanded and dishonorable way for him to forcibly inject his personal religious views onto children and the others present and an abuse of his role as gadfly.

Minimum Wage and Morality

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Seattle has passed an ordinance that will raise the minimum wage private businesses in the city must pay to $15/hr. The wage increase will take effect in stages over a few years, starting next April. I’ve written elsewhere (here, for instance, and here) on the economic utility of raising the minimum wage.

What about what a government-imposed minimum wage does to a worker’s morality? A Seattle home health worker earning $10.95/hr had this to say about her situation and Seattle’s minimum wage mandate, as summarized at the first link, and also quoted there:

[She] is looking forward to the way a higher wage will help her support her three children.

She said she and her three kids are living with her brother because she can’t afford an apartment of her own even though she works full time. “This will make changes to myself and also a lot of other people in my shoes.”

She says that like family taking care of family is a bad thing. But why shouldn’t family take care of family first, rather than strangers being forced to do so ahead of family? Plainly, this family does not need the outside help; they just find it…convenient.

Another Aspect of American Education

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The College Board, makers of the SAT college “readiness exam” that high schoolers across the country take and supporters of the Common Core standards that so many Americans and American school districts dislike on the merits, now wants to bring PRC “teachings” to our children’s classrooms—in 20 school districts across the US, so far.

The tool for this intrusion is the College Board’s partnership with Confucius Institutes, an agency under the control of the People’s Republic of China government and which will act as College Board’s “partner” in this venture.

The College Board carefully ignores that connection with the PRC government. The College Board also carefully ignores the fact that

Hanban—the Chinese state agency that supervises, funds, and provides staff to Confucius Institutes—may bully teachers or censor lessons within American classrooms.

The College Board also chooses to leave unmentioned the Confucius Institutes’ “seven taboos,” or unmentionables, little things like:

freedom of speech, universal values, judicial independence, and the mistakes of the Communist Party.

However, the President of the College Board, David Coleman, does say this, loudly, and often:

Hanban is just like the sun. It lights the path to develop Chinese teaching in the US. The College Board is the moon. I am so honored to reflect the light that we’ve gotten from Hanban.

Coleman says pretty much all there is to say on the matter, even if he doesn’t realize that.

It’s time our local communities take back control over their/our American education.

Politicizing the VA’s Failure

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“Politicizing the problems at the VA is disgusting and appalling, but typical for Senate candidates that have a record on veterans’ issues that they should be ashamed of,” the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said.

You bet. Because Koch.

No, those Democrat candidates for Senator, insisting on politicizing the VA’s shameful behavior, need to be replaced. As do those incumbent Democrat Senators as they come up for election. The DSCC is right on this one: their Senators’ use of our veterans as pawns in their…arguments…is nearly as shameful as the VA’s performance.