Santorum: Watch and Learn

As the radical right continues its war on our children's education by wielding charter schools and vouchers to bleed public money from public schools, a potentially revealing--if hypothetical--situation has just become a little more likely. With the expiration of John Bolton's recess appointment as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, enraged members of the moral minority like Kathryn Jean Lopez are now calling for his replacement by outgoing Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. So here's the big question: Would an Ambassador Santorum, with a diplomatic posting in Manhattan, continue to claim that a Pennsylvania "Cyber Charter School" is best for his children? Remember that the appeal of the "Cyber Charter School" was that he could home-school his children in Leesburg, Va., while billing his impoverished Pennsylvania school district, where he claimed he lived, $100,000 for an alleged online component of their schooling.

One suspects that the Ambassadorial perks and the siren call of NYC private schools--plus the reduced need for focus-group driven schooling methods--might lead to a sudden lost of interest in "alternative" education.

--Dr. Frank Galton, D.Phil, Resident Scholar

Class Warfare

On the same day that the White House announced the menu for 10,000 of George and Laura's closest friends at this year's Christmas parties (e.g., "Display of Specialty Cheeses and Winter Fruits Served with a Bountiful Display of Lavish Specialty Crackers and Spiced Pecans"), the War on American Families continued with a seemingly innocuous notice posted on the White House website. Flagged only as a letter from the President to the House and Senate, George Bush announced his intention to slash by nearly 100 percent the planned pay raises for many Federal Government employees. These are employees who were due for locality pay adjustments in the New Year, but will not now get these adjustments. And what is the excuse for taking expected money away from hardworking Federal Families?

Such cost increases would threaten our efforts against terrorism or force deep cuts in discretionary spending or Federal employment to stay within budget. Neither outcome is acceptable. Therefore, I have determined that a locality pay increase of 0.5 percent would be appropriate for GS and certain other employees in January 2007. Our national situation precludes granting larger locality pay increases at this time.

It's really quite an achievement for the man who is borrowing $300 billion a year on the taxpayer tab to argue that an expense of a few billion dollars would break the budget, not to mention the ludicrous claim that we might not be able to catch Osama if hardworking Federal employees in Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Truckee, for example, got their scheduled payraise. So while the elite dig in to their "Colossal Shrimp Cocktail and Jonah Crab Claws," the Federal workers in the trenches have to plan on more coupon-clipping in 2007. Perhaps the white House expects that they'll be encouraged knowing their boss is such a regular guy that he serves "Chicken Fried Beef Tenderloin with White Onion Gravy." But in fact they'll see that the real War on Christmas is being fought on their paychecks.

--Dr. Frank Galton, D.Phil, Resident Scholar

Bush: Attacking the Family, Again

Anti-family forces have long been in control at the Bush Department of Health and Human Services. But the irony of Bush's latest appointment to lead the Office of Population Affairs could have been lost on no one except those who felt that John Bolton was an inspired choice to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. As Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs, Dr. Eric Keroack will be in charge of the Title X program, which has provided confidential and unbiased contraceptive services to women in need, without regard to age or income, for more than three decades. (That Title X was originally signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon and was called an urgent "public health matter" by George H.W. Bush in 1969 shows how far the anti-family Republican Party of today has strayed from its roots.) Dr. Keroack is an obstetrician-gynecologist who serves as the medical director of A Woman’s Concern, a so-called "crisis pregnancy center" which counsels women not to have abortions. AWC calls the distribution of birth control, for which Dr. Keroack will now be responsible in his new role at HHS, "demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness." To the patriot-haters in control of the Executive Branch of our government, it seems, forced unplanned child-bearing honors women and celebrates human sexuality.

--Dr. Carole Fisher-Ford, MD, MPH, Margaret Sanger Fellow

The Wealth of a Nation

For the incoming Congress, one of the first orders of business will be rewarding hardworking American patriots with an increase in the minimum wage, currently set at $5.15 an hour (and last changed 10 years ago). Opponents have used "labor demand curves" to argue that an increase would reduce the number of jobs, and brave economists who deviate from this politically correct line are threatened with "re-education" from radical campus rightists. However, different studies find conflicting evidence on this point. It is time to move beyond such details and go forward on a new front: a Preventative War on Poverty.

But let's suppose the anti-patriot argument is correct, and the total number of jobs falls. The remaining workers would still be earning a higher wage than they were previously. Some of the lost jobs might be in households where both spouses held minimum wage jobs. True, the household might now only have one worker, but the non-working spouse can help keep down other costs, such as childcare and transport. Consider that a minimum wage job translates into a salary of $10,000 a year, and is liable for social security taxes paid into a system that family-haters on the right want to abolish anyway. Who would not prefer an alternative of fewer but better jobs, with more childcare provided in the home to nurture a new generation of great American families?

--Dr. Frank Galton, D.Phil, Resident Scholar

(updated 13:02)

A Victory For America's Families

Today's pro-marriage news from Massachusetts bodes well for the future of the American family. We salute the commonwealth of Massachusetts and its legislators for honoring the sacred bond of matrimony, and encourage other states to follow suit.

A New Era

Only a few days ago, our country was under attack. The forces of evil were at the very gates, and their agents had infiltrated the highest levels of our government. But now a new day has dawned. The balance of power is resettling. Our children's future may yet be safe.