It’s hard to imagine a congressional action more pointlessly provocative than passing a resolution that Turks committed genocide against Armenians some 90 years ago. But here come House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, many of her fellow Democrats, and some Republicans, with an ironclad determination to do just such a detrimental thing to their country.
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Ernesto "Che" Guevara was executed 40 years ago this week, and the impulse to honor him is bursting out all over. Celebrations are taking place in such places as Cuba, Bolivia and Ireland, a priest has called him a saint and hosts of other people are likewise instructing us on what a hero he was, what a moral giant, what a fierce combatant for justice in an imperialist-threatened, inhumane world.
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On Sept. 6, Israel fired up warplanes that flew deep into Syria to a site near the city of Dayr az Zawr where they executed an airstrike. Then all went silent. And by silent, I mean no one in an official capacity mentioned it. Israel went mute. Syria fell quiet. The airstrike itself raises many questions, such as what was attacked and why? But the "elephant in the room" question is where was Syria’s outrage? Why were both sides in this encounter silent?
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Washington, D.C., legislators and presidential candidates are setting up No Child Left Behind to fail. Former North Carolina Democratic Sen. John Edwards is the latest candidate to suggest that we need multiple ways to "measure higher-order thinking skills, including open-ended essays, oral examinations and projects and experiments."
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New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is so intent on doing good without first thinking things through that it’s inevitable he will do incredible harm. He’s clearly on the way with his recent move to dish out driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.Maybe, of course, he was motivated less by charitable impulse than political opportunism, for, of course, labor unions and immigration groups are already offering up hand-burning applause.
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When I told my four children that today is declared Family Day in California, they thought it meant a day off from school. Not so, I told them. Family Day is about the "we" in our family. What do I mean by that? Studies show that when we families eat together three or more times a week, teens are half as likely to try cigarettes or marijuana, one-third less likely to try alcohol — and it lowers risk for substance abuse by 70 percent.
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It is best not to dwell too long on New York Times editorials, for then a great fog can enter the mind, causing you to bump intowalls or trip over large objects, falling and banging your head. Great pain can ensue.But for insight into the peculiar workings of the leftist intellect, the occasional contemplation of a line or two or three of "Gray Lady" musings can be useful, as in a recent piece headlined, "As the Economy Turns Down."
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Things are getting better in Iraq but worse in Washington, where war opponents will ignore any fact, evade any reality, call any honorable person a liar and risk any genocidal, terrorist-aiding consequence to further their defeatist agenda.Gen. David Petraeus, the straightforward, utterly brilliant, tough but scholarly commander of U.S. troops in the war, did not dismiss the difficulties as he outlined progress in the struggle during his congressional testimony.
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In 2001, the president of the University of California, Richard Atkinson, recommended that the UC system drop the SAT I as a requirement for admissions. That seemingly innocuous suggestion prompted widespread panic at the College Board, developers of the SAT I, the largest college admissions test.
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Robert Dynes, who just resigned as president of the University of California, has excellent credentials as a physicist and he is a very decent human being. But he should have quit the day he was named to head the UC system. It was a mistake from the outset to select him. Some of the fault is mine. I was on the board of regents at the time.
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