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4.12.2002 5:55 AM All is well in the land of tea and crumpets. After getting some sleep to combat a hard case of jetlag, I'm ready to play the role of the typical American tourists. Museums are on tap today. On a completely different note, if I ever have problems with my batting stance or jump shot. I'm giving the Big Guy in the Sky a call. Inspirational Sport Statues Sean Hackbarth | 4.10.2002 1:49 AM For at least a week, Israel was free of suicide bombers. I thought Operation Defensive Shield might be preventing future attacks. Maybe it has, and now Palestinian terrorists have regrouped. What this attack does is give Sharon even more impetus to continue the operation and defy President Bush. "Israel Struck by Suicide Bomb" Sean Hackbarth | 1:43 AM New Yorkers are thinking right about how to replace the World Trade Center. Two tall towers to replace the fallen ones aren't needed in a city with plenty of vacant office space. Instead, a number of smaller buildings are in the works. Along with them there should be a memorial that remembers the victims, praises the strength of those who saved thousands, and displays the greatness of a nation that stands for freedom throughout the world. "Breaking ground at Ground Zero" Sean Hackbarth | 4.9.2002 1:33 PM Louis Rukeyser will be taking on his old show. It's no surprise that CNBC picked him up. Rukeyser has a loyal following. What is surprising is CNBC is offering Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street to any PBS station that wants it. The Rukeyser intelligent faith in markets will continue along with his (in)famous puns. But will his elves be coming with him? "CNBC Inks Rukeyser for New Show" Sean Hackbarth | 2:40 AM The Pulitzers have been announced. All the big newspapers got one. I'm more interested in the book awards. There was no surprise in the biography category. David McCullough won for his best seller John Adams. I would have guessed that Edmund Morris' Theodore Rex would have been his closest rival, but it wasn't even a finalists. The book might have been released too late to be considered for 2002. Louis Menand won the history catagory for The Metaphysical Club, a history of early 20th Century American philosophy. Another category I'm always interested in is commentary. Tom Friedman won this year. His scoop of the Saudi Prince's peace proposal probably gave him the award. I would have liked for Peggy Noonan to have won. Her pieces have been heartfelt, touching, patriotic, and authoritative. 2002 Pulitzer Prize Winners Sean Hackbarth | 1:58 AM The altered logo up in the corner doesn't mean TAM is growing closer to Mother England. Sure, I really appreciate the way Tony Blair has stood strong with the U.S. in the war. He's been loud about need to use military force to stop this assault on the West. The logo doesn't mean I'm trying to get closer to my English roots. I'm not a geneology geek who has traced their ancestors back to the exact place near Liverpool where some great-great-great-great grandfather Edward decided he wanted to dig a new pit for the outhouse. The logo also doesn't mean I'm showing off my new-found love for Austin Powers. The movies are pretty lame and definitely no "groovey baby!" The altered logo means I'm off to jolly old England. Why England? Well, I have a passport that's good for 10 years. Time's a ticking, and I figure I better get some more use out of it than just a trip to France. Another reason is I know someone there, and he's offered me a place to stay. Being the all-around nice guy that I am, I couldn't say no. So, it was off to Priceline to get a cheap ticket. (Did quite well even if I have to lug my stuff down to Chicago instead of Milwaukee.) Tomorrow, I'll be witnessing first-hand the current state of airport security. Will I be searched? Will I be profiled? Will I be stripped searched? (Only if she's cute and single.) Will I see something that strikes me as being completely ridiculous (HINT: The feds now run airport security)? Will I display a really bad case of air rage BEFORE even boarding the plane? We shall see. I'll keep you posted. Sean Hackbarth | 4.8.2002 4:51 AM Dave Kopel noticed the same phenomenon in Israel as I did. Sean Hackbarth | 4:36 AM Bill Clinton can't handle this news. He wants us all to love him for the miserable lout (friends would say rogue) he is. Just imagine the sympathy-inducing cant he'll put in his memoir to make us all understand why he did what he did. He'll really want us to "feel his pain." "Clinton's Retrospective Job Approval at 51%" [via Drudge] Sean Hackbarth | 4:15 AM I hope Andrew Cuomo's letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee is more than kissing up to New York Jews. He does state plainly that Arafat "has taken the side of the terrorists who kill innocent civilians in the pursuit of their cause." "Cuomo Asks Institute to Rescind Arafat's Nobel Peace Prize" [via InstaPundit] Sean Hackbarth | 4.7.2002 1:01 AM Madison, WI: in the same government school system where the school board stopped students from saying the Pledge of Allegance, a 12-year old has been suspended for bringing a knife to school. Was straight-A student, Christian Schmidt, planning on slicing his teacher or going after some students who were picking on him? Was he lashing out at proposed state budget cuts to local government? Was he acting out in response to Israeli aggression in the West Bank? No, Schmidt brought it to school as part of a science project about onions. The school administration wants to expell Schmidt, but the boy's parents say that if he admits to doing wrong, undergoes psychological testing, and takes an anger management course, then he could come back to school. It's bad enough for common sense to be tossed aside because of strict adherence to a "zero tolerance" weapons policy. What's even worse if for the school district to demand Schmidt have psychological treatment. The only error by Schmidt was a lack of judgment for not asking his teacher if he could bring a knife to class. No malice was intened by him, nor did anyone get hurt. Assistant Superintendent Valencia Douglas was worried that a knife brought to school for benign reasons could fall into the wrong hands. That didn't happen here, nevertheless, Douglas said, "Why a student brings a weapon to school and under what conditions really can't impact our decision." No thinking is required by school officials. That shouldn't be a surprise, since this did take place in a government school. But let's go beyond the fact that the people who run Cherokee Middle School aren't the smartest people in the world. We live in a litigaous society. When something goes wrong many people's first reaction is to see who they can sue. Establishing legalistic rules is the response. That way if something wrong happens, then those who could be considered liable can claim they were following policy. No judgement is needed, therefore no one is responsible. The drawback to such strict rules is that flexibility and common sense are abandoned for protection from legal attack. Schmidt's principal couldn't just confiscate the knife and call the parents to discuss how such a situation could be better handled in the future. Instead 12-year old gets suspended and possibly expelled. School officials will claim they're "just following rules" and some people will support them because "rules are rules." For them, strict conformity is primary, while handling a particular situation is secondary. Philip Howard writes about how people sacrifice individual judgement for rigid legalistic rules in his The Collapse of the Common Good (formerly known as The Lost Art of Drawing the Line). As for Christian Schmidt, his fate rests with the Madison School Board. "Student Suspended for Bringing Knife for Project" Sean Hackbarth | 1:01 AM At the state capitol, everyone has a way to balance the state budget. Gov. McCallum wants to stop sending state money to city and county governments. Republicans controlling the State Assembly want to cut state government and the state university budget. Democrats controlling the State Senate want to balance the budget on the backs of poor children. How are members of the supposedly "caring" party doing this? They want to gut the school choice program helping thousands of children in Milwaukee. This isn't the first time the Democrats have tried to kill a program that researchers say helps children. They tried to eliminate it last year, and this year it's being used as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations. So, while parents taking advantage of the program worry about school choice's future, Democrats in Madison cynically use them in a game of political chicken. One thing this story shows is that Wisconsin Democrats are more loyal to the teachers' union than to minority communities. Most of the children in Milwaukee's school choice program are minorities that vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. With that kind of support, I'd expect more loyalty. But in reality, Democrats just take minority votes for granted. When it comes to choosing between a faction that constantly votes for you (minority communities) and one that can organize and fund campaigns (teachers' union), they choose the one with the money. This will continue to happen until minority communities stop supporting Democrats with such zeal. It will also continue until Wisconsin Republicans make a concerted effort to address the needs of these communities. "Democrats' Budget Slashes School Choice" Sean Hackbarth | 12:41 AM Charles Paul Freund takes a crack at porn broadcast on Palestinian television:
"Porn and Politics in Palestine" Sean Hackbarth | 12:38 AM Get on board and shout with a loud voice that Yasser Arafat is underserving of a Nobel Peace Prize. RevokeThePrize.org UPDATE: The Nobel committee is upset that Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres is a part of the Israeli government. "Peres is responsible, as part of the government. He has expressed his agreement with what [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon is doing," one member said. Peres is a part of a government taking actions to stop bombings on its people that are allowed to happened because of Arafat's inaction and Peres is the problem? Are prominent Europeans like these knee-jerk anti-Israel or is there some reason to their thinking? One possibility is that holding Arafat responsible for suicide bombings would be "blaming the victims" which in their minds are the Palestinians. Is there any way for Israel to be the victim here? No, because they have the tanks, jets, and the will to use them. So, I guess these people are knee-jerk anti-Israel. Sean Hackbarth | |
ABOUT When I'm not pondering the fate of the universe, I'm reading, writing, or selling books. Here you'll find comments on politics, culture, books, and music. Not necessarily in that order. MAILBOX sean--at--theamericanmind.com  Support democracy and human rights in Iraq! 
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