Huzzah for Provincialism!
Today's Outrage of the Day on the right side of the blogosphere regards this latest bit from Barack Obama, regarding the need for our educational system to get better at teaching other languages. Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 9, 2008 11:05
By Any Other Name…
Jonah Goldberg has sparked a minor blogospheric furor for a recent column in which he castigated Barack Obama, John McCain, and others for promoting a compulsory national service program, which he compared to slavery. There's a weird irony at work when Sen. Barack Obama, the black presidential candidate who will allegedly scrub the stain of racism from the nation, vows to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 8, 2008 13:26
Shadow of Wright Still Hangs over Obama Campaign
A piece in today's WSJ argues that "there is evidence of lingering damage" to Barack Obama from the controversy over pastor Jeremiah Wright's videotaped tirades. The evidence is, to put it mildly, thin. "It has not been defused," says David Parker, a North Carolina Democratic Party official and unpledged superdelegate. He says his worries about Republicans questioning Sen. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 7, 2008 16:26
Community Service is Something You’re Sentenced To
"Dean Dad" argues against that old chestnut, a public service program whereby "graduating high school seniors will work for the government for a year or two in a sort of domestic peace corps arrangement, doing fine and worthy things while accruing voucher credits to be used for college tuition." In addition to being premised on an image of college students ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on March 26, 2008 13:32
Indentured Service
I know this is a bit old, but one thing that struck me about Senator Obama's victory speech in Wisconsin was this portion of the speech, It’s the dream of the teacher who works at Dunkin Donuts after school just to make ends meet. She needs better pay, and more support, and the freedom to do more than just teach to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 19, 2008 09:30
Libertarians Rising?
Michael Kinsley argues that the intellectual positions of the two major parties are incoherent and concludes that libertarians "are going to be an increasingly powerful force in politics." Many people feel that neither party offers a coherent set of principles that they can agree with. For them, the choice is whether you believe in Big Government or you don't. And if ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on October 19, 2007 12:09
Joint Military - Peace Corps Program Being Reconsidered
Both the military and the Peace Corps are wary of a program whereby military volunteers can shorten their commitment by going into the Peace Corps or similar programs. Military's Civic-Service Option Is Reconsidered (Minneapolis Star Tribune, Oct. 6) Under a post-Sept. 11 initiative touted by the military in the past year, recruits can shorten their active-duty terms by volunteering for civilian organizations ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on October 7, 2005 09:07
