-
8/2/2019 April Hit 47 Westville
1/1
TheRichLowrycolumn
By Rich LowryThe Mu rde rs Tha tD o n ' t C o u n t
Clinton's loose war talk
Weekly Expressuesday, April 10, 2012Opinionp. 4The Conservative View
T h e O a thBy Russell TurnerAs I watch the headlines ofthe day I often won der how.the founders of our nationwould react if it were possibleto transport them from theirtime to ours. We modernday Americans have simplyaccepted an ever increas-ing governmen t in ou r lives.We have forgotten the wordsof one of the founders whospoke about the role the fed-eral government in our lives.As James Madison wrote inthe Fed eralist No . 45, "Thepowers delegated by the p ro-posed Constitution to thefederal government, are few
and defined. Those which areto remain in the State gov-ernments are numerous andindefinite. The form er will beexercised principally on ex-ternal objects, as war, peace,negotiation, and foreigncommerce 'I feel that the foundersunderstood the virtues of
By Bryan Gonterman, Pres-ident. AT&T OklahomaAT&T is honored to helpAmerica's children Aspire tosuccess.One in four students -more th an 1 m illion studentsa year - fails to graduate highschool with their class. This isone o f our nation's most criti-cal problems, particularlyin an era when competitionfor jobs among people and,indeed, among nations is be-coming evermore intense.Over the last four years,our Aspire program hasworked with organizationsacross the country to helpreverse this trend to reachthe national goal of a 90%high school graduation rateby 2020. AT&T Aspire hasalready impacted over 1 mil-lion students with $100 mil-lion invested since 2008.Although the high schooldropout rate has shown im-provement, we can do more.In fact, we're doubling downon American students andAmerica's futu re.In our continued effort toaddress this critical issue, weare excited to launch a newphase o f Aspire - a $250 mil-lion investment planned overfive years that will furtherbuild on our existing initia-tive to help more studentsgraduate from high schoolprepared for careers and col-lege, and to ensure o ur nationis better prepared for globalcompetition.Here in O klahoma, publicofficials and educators haveplaced a premium on edu ca-tion, and we are delighted tohave had an opportunity toplay a role in their success.With our new ph ase of As-pire, we'll take a "socially in-novative" approach that goesbeyond traditional ilan-
having ,local contr ol of gov-ernment instead of th e entirecountry being dictated to b ysome bureaucrat in Wash-ington D C. While all citizenshave common needs, differ-ent parts of the cou ntry mayhave vastly different prob-lems to b e solved. I feel thatI know the n eeds of my areabetter that someone sittingbehind a desk in o ur nation'scapital. Over the past severalmonths there has been muchtalk about the problems inour n ation and the failure ofour elected o fficials to ob eytheir oath of office. Everyelected official swears to obeythe laws of the land and theConstitution of the UnitedStates. I have observed manypoliticians simply repeatthe words with no intentionof being true to that oath.The main reason they fail tohonor their oath is very sim-ple. Their desire to win re-election is greater th an th eirdesire to follow th e ru les; it isa sad situation when politicsgets in th e way of doing theright thin g. While we like to
thropy, engaging people an dtechnology to create new anddifferent solutions to socialproblems.In to day's world, the mo-bile Internet is omnipresent.Students - of all ages - areadept at using this powerfulresource, and it is critical thatits potent power be h arnessedfor the cause of education.Our AT&T Foun dry innova-tion centers will work witheducators and other compa-nies to find fresh or atypicalapproaches to improve edu-cation . The n ew Aspire willalso leverage technology toconnect with students in newand more effective ways. Andyou can expect to see a p ar-ticular em phasis on gamifica-tion (using game techniquesto teach studen ts math, sci-ence, and other applications),mobile applications, videoand social media - the com-munications environmentsin which man y of today's stu-dents are most com fortable -to instill a new level of excite-ment into learning.But techn ology alon e willnot solve the education chal-lenge. It takes peop le too.We plan to take our cur-rent Job Shadow programto a new level with the As-pire Mentoring Academy, aprogram that will providemore opportunities for ouremployees to work closelywith students m ost at-risk ofdropping out to help themsucceed in their classroom sand in life. Students andmentor s will be matched onthe basis of shared interestsand will work together toexplore and solve real-life,on-the-job business prob-lems. The y will also have theopp ortunity to participate ine-mentoring, specifically inthe fields of science, technol-ogy, engineering and math
blame the politicians fo r theirlack of conviction, until wevoters start taking the oath ofoffice seriously, we will neversolve the problems we are ex-periencing.It seems like many of ourcitizens are pre-occupiedwith getting their share ofthe pie instead of dem andingthat our leaders obey the oaththey took. When we take thetime to look at the state ofour programs such as So-cial Security and Medicare,it makes me wonder whymore citizens are not holdingour e lected officials account-able. They're instrumental inperpetuating the problem. Ifwe are intent on holding outfor the governm ent to fix it,though, it is like waiting fora thief to give your stuff back.It's not going to happen. Ihave found that doing theright thing is often un popu -lar. Until we Americans learnto appreciate hon esty, integ-rity and the importance ofthe oath of office, we had bet-ter get used to living with o urproblems.
(STEM).ome 100,000students participated in theAT&T Job Shadow initiativewith Junior Achievement todate, including o ver 2,100 inOklahoma.Local community orga-nizations will be vital to thesuccess of Aspire and ourplans call for providing finan-cial suppo rt to tho se groupsthat deliver genuine results inhelping students learn.Thanks to the comm itmentof our employees and manyOklahoma organizations, ourinitial $100 million invest-ment in high school successand college and career readi-ness has made a positive im-pact. Th e O klahom a Aspireinvestment has amoun ted toover $3.3 million since 2008.We're excited to expandour investm ent in this greatresource - our children's edu-ca tion - with our new com-mitment.There 's no doubt tha t ourinvestment in Aspire is an in-vestment in America's future,and, indeed, our own. AtAT&T, we b elieve that peop leare the critical differentiatorsin our industry, especiallygiven the lightning-fast paceof technological evolution.And A spire helps to create apipeline of diverse talent forall U.S. companies, includingAT&T.Our children are the keyto our future. And joiningtogether in the comm unitieswhere our employees andcustomers live and work, wecan make a difference in thelives of stu dents and fam iliesand in our own communitiesand across the nation.To learn more about the As-pire program or to apply forfunding, visit www.att.com/education-news,
H ave anopinion?Send L etters to the
Editor to:weeklyexpress@
singlobal.netor fax them to
918-723-4448 or
Delric Miller IV died in ahail of bullets a month ago.When someon e fired 37 AK-47 rounds into his Detroi th o me at 4:30 a.m., he wasmortally wounded while doz-ing on the couch. He was 9months old. No one made themulticolored teething ring hegot for Christmas or his toyhammer into national sym-bols of random violence.Last year, Charinez Jeffer-son, 17, was shot and killed ona Chicago street. "She beggedthe shoote r not to shoot he rbecause she was pregnant," apastor explained. The allegedassailant, Timo thy Jones, 18,shot her in the h ead, chest andback after seeing her walkingwith a rival gang member.New York Times columnistCharles Blow did not write acolumn about Jefferson's kill-ing as a symbol of the perils ofbeing a young black womanin America.
By Sheldon RichmanWhen President Obamaspoke before the AmericanIsrael Public Affairs Com-mittee some weeks ago, headmonished those who en-gaged in "loose talk of war"about Iran. Apparently, hissecretary of state, HillaryRodham Clinton, didn't getthe memo.The Associated Press re-ported this week,U.S. Secretary of State H ill-ary Rodham Clinton madeclear Saturday that time isrunning out for diplomacyover Iran's nuclear programand said talks aimed at pre-venting Tehran from acquir-ing a nuclear weapon wou ldresume in mid-April. Withspeculation over a possibleU.S. or I srael military attackadding urgency to the nextround of discussions in Istan-bul set for April 13, Clintonsaid Iran's "window of op por-tunity" for a peaceful resolu-tion "will not remain openforever"She also expressed doubtabout whether Iran has anyintention of negotiating a so-lution that satisfies the U.S.,Israel and other countriesthat believe Iran is trying todevelop nuclear weapons.That s another m emo Clin-ton seems not to have re-ceived. Both American andIsraeli intelligence say thatIran has neither started tobuild a nuclear weapon noreven decided to do so in thefuture. Both also regard theIranian government as a "ra-tional actor:' (The Americannews media occasionally re-ports this, but then goes backto stating, as though it wereunco ntro versial, that Iran isbuilding a nu clear arsenal.)So why th e con flicting sig-nals from the U.S. govern-ment? This conflict can beseen in Obama's own state-ments. While he calls for di-
Last June, a stray bul-let from a confrontationon a Brighton Beach, N.Y.,bo ardwalk killed 16-year-oldTysha Jones as she sat on abench. A 19-year-old man,out for revenge after an ear-lier scuffle on the boardwalk,was charged in the shooting.Tysha's heartbroken moth erwas not featured on all thenational TV shows.In January, 12-year-oldKade'jah Davis was shotand killed when, allegedly,19-year-old Joshua Brownshowed up at her Detroi thouse to demand the re turnof a cellphone from Davis'mother. When Brown didn'tget the phon e, he fired shotsthrough the f ront door. Noone held high-profile streetprotests to denoun ce gunplayover such trifles.Everything about the Tray-von Martin case in Florida isa matter of contention. Aboutthis, though, there shou ld beno d oubt: If Martin had beenshot by a black classmate,if he had been caught in arandom crossfire, if he hadlooked at a gang member thewron g way, his death wou ldhave been relegated to theback pages of the local news-paper. Not a cause, not evena curiosity: Just an other deadyoung black man. Nothing tosee here. Please, move o n.Jesse Jackson is right that"blacks are und er attack:' Ac-cording to a 2005 FBI report,blacks accounted for 13 per-cent of the po pulation and 49
plomacy and warns againstloose war talk, he has im-posed harsh economic sanc-tions that make the daily livesof average Iranians miser-able, has rejected "contain-ment," and boasted that hedoesn't "bluff'If Iran is not building anuclear bomb, if it has notdecided to do so, and ifObama wants to . use diplo-macy to discuss Iran's ura-nium-enrichment program(which its government saysis for peaceful purposes),why is he pushing sanctionsdesigned to bring the Iranianeconom y down? Wouldn't itmake mo re sense, if there isreally something to negotiateabout, for Obama to treat theIranian regime with respect?The saber rattlers will saythat sanctions are needed toget Iran to the negotiatingtable. But that's an evasion.The official experts, as well asothers, say no b omb is beingbuilt. Iran is doing what it isfree to do under th e NuclearNon -Proliferation Treaty enriching uranium for medi-cal and energy purposes. It issubjected to inspections andits uranium is under seal bythe International Atomic E n-ergy Agency.There is no constructivepurpose to the sanctions andwar talk. Clinton aggravatesan already dangerous situa-tion when she talks ominous-ly about wind ows closing andclocks running. She soundsbent on war, with Obama justa bit less so.Why?Two reasons suggest them-selves. It's an election year.The Republican pr esidentialcandidate (unless it's RonPaul) can be expected to por-tray Obama as insufficientlybloodthirsty. Mitt Romne yhopes we'll ignore Obamasexpansion of the criminaldrone war in Pakistan and
percent of all homicide vic-tims. In 93 percent of the cas-es, the k iller was b lack. Halfof the victims were ages 17 to29. That wor ks out to 4,000mur ders of youn g blacks inone year, overwhelminglyat the hands of oth er blacks.In the communities wherethese killings occur th ere is,to put it in Jackson's inimi-table terms, no justice and nopeace. There is no compara-ble epidemic o f half-Hispanicneighborhood-watch volun-teers like George Zimmer-man shooting young blackm e n .An injustice may well havebeen done in the handlingof the Martin shooting, butlet's not fool ourselves. Zim-merman could be arrested,convicted and h anged tomor-row, and it will have no effecton the lives of young blackpeople in comm unities besetby social disorder. Whateverhappens to Zimmerman, thedrip-drip o f spilled bloo d willcontinue, all but ignored ex-cept in th e police blotter. InAmerica, the lives of youngblack people are cheap, un-less they happen to fit theright agenda.
Rich Lowr y is editor o f theNational Review.(c) 2012 by King Features SyncL,Inc.
./
