Monday, March 13, 2006

Observations

♣ It seems to me that the turf war between the Marion County Sheriff's Department and the Indianapolis Police Department over what color the uniforms will be for the newly combined department is petty and childish. While I understand that both the IPD and MCSD have pride in their units, this is (in my opinion) a silly thing to fight over.

♣ Hitler. Stalin. Hirohito. These are three names that are synonymous with genocide, mass murder and horrific human rights violations. The Nazi concentration camps, Stalin's brutal reign of terror in the Evil Empire, and Japan's "Rape of Nanking" are remembered as some of history's greatest atrocities. In the 1990's, Slobodon Milosevic added himself to this "elite" club of genocidal maniacs. Now Milosovic is dead.

The evil acts committed in the former Yugoslavia's bloody civil war serve as a reminder of the depths of depravity man is capable of. The mass rapes committed by Serbian troops and the indiscriminate slaughter perpetrated by Milosevic's forces shocked the world, although in hindsight it shouldn't have. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

♣ Dan Lips argues that vouchers offer hope to failing U.S. students. I disagree, for reasons I have explained many time before. See previous writings here, here, here, here, here, here, and here for why vouchers are a bad idea.

♣ This is a very disturbing case. One would think that, after last summer's Supreme Court decision on eminent domain stirred outrage that crossed party and ideological lines, that local governments would hold off on schemes to steal private property for a while. Private property rights could (and should) be a major issue in this fall's elections.

♣ If Hollywood wonders why the movie industry had a down year in 2005, they would do well to read Mark Alexander's latest column. Alexander compares the movies nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards to the movies that the American people decided were the best films of the year. Alexander writes: "Hollywood's Fab Five grossed $235,643,912 and averaged $26.3 million in profits", while "the top five picks according to the rest of America... grossed $1.41 billion and averaged $125.4 million in profits."