WORLD Magazine | Hidden pain | Matt Anderson | Sep 26, 09

WORLD Magazine | Hidden pain | Matt Anderson | Sep 26, 09: "I learned early in my career that woman generally don't mention abortions unless specifically asked."

Rebel Interrogators Want Investigation | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

Rebel Interrogators Want Investigation | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "he said he began his investigation 'in part because of expressions of concern by Agency (CIA) employees that the actions in which they were involved, or of which they were aware, would be determined by judicial authorities in the US or abroad to be illegal.'

And strikingly, he added, 'Many expressed to me personally their feelings that what the Agency was doing was fundamentally inconsistent with long established U.S. Government policy and with American values, and was based on strained legal reasoning.' (Washington Post, Aug. 24)."

'During an interview with Jason Leopold of The Public Record (pubrecord.org), Aug. 23, Kleinman said — Mr. President take heed — "I've had the honor of testifying before four committees of Congress and I am always astounded at the profound political partisan politics that surround this issue. I'm a professional interrogator. I have 25 years of experience in this and I don't have any concern whatsoever that an investigation into how we conducted ourselves since 9/11 would in any way undermine our ability to continue gathering intelligence."

Significantly, in this land of the free and home of the brave, Kleinman added: "I have friends in the intelligence community who won't speak up because to do so is almost a career-ender."'

The Real School Indoctrination Scandal | Will Wilkinson | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Real School Indoctrination Scandal | Will Wilkinson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Yet in 30 states, local school boards choose textbooks for their entire school districts. In the remaining 20, state-level boards choose textbooks for an entire state. Because statewide markets in California and Texas are so huge, the best bet for the big textbook publishing companies is to tailor their products to the tastes of textbook adoption committees in one or both states, leaving small-state committees with little influence.

We are a spectacularly diverse society, yet we have somehow settled on a system in which enormous captive populations of students are made to learn the same exact thing from the same boring book. When policy requires that every impressionable young mind in a town, city, or state be exposed to one set of assumptions about ethnicity and gender, one approach to religion, one version of American history, one account of Christopher Columbus, one interpretation of the Civil War or the New Deal, you can bet there will be wrenching conflict. And you can bet that the one-size-fits-all textbooks that emerge from this politicized selection process will fit no one. Mind-numbing blandness is the key to their success."

"The ideological differences that fuel the textbook wars wouldn't be such a big deal if we had an education system in which parents, armed with school vouchers or education tax credits, had the power to choose their kids' curricula by choosing their school. With greater school choice, the K–12 textbook market would come to more closely resemble the college textbook market—a lively, competitive scrum where individual instructors select from a wide array of texts embodying different perspectives and pedagogical assumptions."

"Through trial and error and the test of time, certain texts are recognized for excellence and gain market share, but instructors are never at a loss for alternatives. One might worry that greater school choice could lead to a cacophonous Babel of incompatible, ideological educations. Yet, despite dizzying curricular variety, college-level school choice has not kept graduates of Brigham Young and Brown from working amicably side by side in the same companies."

Obama's Speech to Students Teaches Lesson About Power | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obama's Speech to Students Teaches Lesson About Power | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: "For decades more and more power has been concentrated in Washington, so reasonable people with legitimate disagreements have had to fight much more – and much harder – over what goes on in DC. The trend has only accelerated over the last couple of years, with bank bailouts, the stimulus, takeovers of Chrysler and GM, and potentially much greater federal involvement in health care."

"Ours, however, is an extremely diverse nation, which has been a huge source of strength for centuries, but also dooms any centralization to conflict."

"To solve the problem, we obviously don't need more centralization, though for several mistaken reasons some liberals and conservatives are demanding just that. No, what we need is the very opposite: school choice. Let parents choose schools that best meet their kids' needs and desires and that share their values. Rather than forcing diverse people to battle over government schools, let them educate their children with the freedom that is supposed to define American life.

If we do that – if we cease forcing people to fight – we can put this ugly speech brawl behind us, and ensure that nothing like it happens again."