Readworthies XXVIII

A handful of interesting, informative, and insightful articles.

News, editorials, columns, essays, et al.

Noble Cause: Brief Wars Rarely Produce Lasting Results. Long Wars Often Do. by William J. Stuntz @ The New Republic Online (LRR):

In 1861 Abraham Lincoln led what was left of his country to war to restore "the Union as it was," to use the popular phrase of the time. Free navigation of the Mississippi River, the right to collect customs duties in Southern ports, the status of a pair of coastal forts in South Carolina and Florida — these were the issues over which young American men got down to the business of killing one another that sad summer.

It was all a pipe dream. "The Union as it was" was gone, forever. Events proved William Tecumseh Sherman — the prophet of that war — right, and everyone else wrong: An ocean of blood would be required to reunite the United States, and once that blood was spilled, the country over which James Buchanan had presided was as dead as the soldiers whose corpses littered the battlefields of Shiloh and Gettysburg, Antietam and Cold Harbor....

Think Again: Minority Advantage by Jonathan Rosenblum @ Jerusalem Post via Jewish Media Resources (ht):

.... [Judge Samuel] Alito's biography (Princeton, Yale Law) and that of the recently confirmed Chief Justice John Roberts (Harvard College, Harvard Law) led me to reflect on the very different socialization of conservatives and liberals on elite campuses. The former spend their entire educational careers as a small minority surrounded by people whose political views — and often their social mores — differ sharply from their own.

Because of their minority status it is far more difficult for conservative students to entertain the illusion that all smart people think like them. They are exposed to many obviously bright young men and women whose opinions on almost every issue vary radically from their own....

College should be a place of higher learning by Rick Esenberg @ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (ht):

I don't recall dorm life as being for the faint of heart.

Apart from hall surfing, contact highs and "the walk of shame" following an ill-advised romantic encounter, living in a dormitory requires young people to learn to put up with beliefs and behavior that may make them uncomfortable.

Universities often view this as a good thing. Living among those with different values, they claim, is a "broadening" experience. Being offended can actually be educational.

But not all forms of offense are equally enlightening. Exposure to vulgarity, casual sex and music reminiscent of the slaughter of cats presumably opens minds and expands perspectives. On the other hand, being forced to witness a group of students praying is more than anyone should have to put up with....

Earmarks by Rich Galen @ Mullings (ht):

• One of the features of the Gingrich Revolution when Republicans took control of the US House of Representatives in January 1995, was a pledge to reverse the accelerating trend toward self-dealing and, in effect, insider-trading which had infected operations in the House over the 40 years of Democratic control.
• Rules were changed to make it more difficult for gifts to be exchanged in return for favors. There were restaurants on the House side of Capitol Hill which literally went out of business when the rules forbad Members or staff being treated to lavish lunches or dinners paid for by lobbyists.
• We have mentioned here before that lobbying, per se, is a protected function. The First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees Americans the right to "petition for redress of grievances." A grievance can be in the eye the corporate federal sales manager; the petition can be paid for of a corporate checking account.
• The majority of lobbyists engage in representing their clients' interest to Congress and to the Administration in a perfectly upright and ethical manner. Labor and environmental lobbyists are just as visible on any given day as are lobbyists representing corporations.
• What has changed in the past few years is the explosion of "earmarks" within appropriations bills....

Imagine MNF Being Covered Like Iraq by Jon Ham @ Carolina Journal (ht):

Watching Monday Night Football the other night, it occurred to me that if one imagined the mainstream media covering that game the way they cover the war in Iraq (or the economy), the absurdity of their reporting would be plain for all to see....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 12/10/05 10:25:20 AM
Categorized as Readworthies.