The debate over the economic “stimulus” bill reached silliness pretty quickly and I for one am pleased it went down. To split hairs over relative degrees of Keynesianism is not my idea of enlightened policy discussion. The whole idea was misguided from the outset. The Wall Street Journal sees the “ghost” of Dick Darman’s 1990 […]
Archives for January 2002
Who’s Testing The Test?
Texas has been hailed as a beacon state for public school accountability, and rightfully so. It is far ahead of most states in the rigor of student testing and holding school administrators accountable for results. The primary testing vehicle, the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), although roundly criticized, was a major enhancement and a […]
Useful By-Products Of War
Let me be clear: war is never a positive good. However, a just war can produce useful by-products, and this one is no exception. For instance, I have no doubt that this country is in the midst of a soul-searching experience and dialogue like no other in at least a century, if not since the […]
When Will They Get The Message?
Incredibly, the Board of Regents at Texas A&M University seems determined to “gerrymander” its definition of diversity in admissions, despite the Hopwood decision and clear evidence that preferential race-based admissions and lowered standards are the wrong approaches. What else can explain the recent approval of a plan to expand the top 10% automatic admission rule […]
Lessons From Enron
Clearly, there are critical lessons to be learned from the Enron debacle—about transparency in reporting, improper capital structures for derivative and commodity trading, and management hubris—all of which, and more, will be paraded before us as the regulatory and judicial process unfolds. From my perspective, one very significant lesson, or reminder, may be that there […]
The Bin Laden Tapes
The most instructive thing to me about the captured Osama Bin Laden video was the response by the “fellow travelers” in the Arab Muslim world. There is convincing evidence here of a society totally in denial and incapable of introspection, a characteristic of a culture that denies philosophy and is not worthy of inclusion in […]