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Showing posts from 2006
Random Thoughts: Washington Scholarship Fund I just got back from a session helping parents apply for the DC voucher program, known as the Opportunity Scholarship Program. We were at a housing project in a dangerous part of D.C. I have a lot to say about it, but instead, I'll just post something I wrote early last year. Yesterday was an extremely stressful day for me: I volunteered for the Washington Scholarship Fund's final recruitment session this school year for the publicly funded scholarship program. As I tell the folks at the organization whenever they need volunteers: Don't count on me being there, but don't be surprised when I show up. It is always fun, educational and humbling to volunteer for the organization. For three years now, I've been on the organization's Executive Network (previously known as the Young Executive Board). I've previously gone on college tours with students, participated in fund-raisers, gone on Capitol Hill with parents a

Burn Your Own Flag, If You Want

by Casey Lartigue This article appeared on cato.org on August 1, 2001. The House voted 298-125 on July 17 for a one-sentence amendment to the U.S. Constitution: "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." Why did Congress stop there? The amendment needs to be expanded to read: "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States that anyone in Congress happens to own. Anyone who burns a flag stolen from the home or office of a member of Congress shall be punished to the maximum extent of the law." In other words, hold flag burners to the same standard we hold people to when they burn property that is not their own: you burn it, you buy it. Congress needs to fight fire with fire by responding to the symbolic act of burning Old Glory with symbolic action of its own--each new Congress should p

HI! Ask me about stick-ups!

As I've said on other occasions, my favorite part of the newspaper is the Metro section. There is more unintended comedy in that section than any other. In today's news we learn that Michael C. Hamlin has been charged with killing former New York Times reporter David E. Rosenbaum. To be clear, I'm not making fun of anything that happened to Rosenbaum. But to Hamlin? Definitely. That fool walked into the police station on his block and asked, why " my face is on TV ." I suppose that the police answered with, "Sir, we're glad you asked that question. Could you please have a seat? And would you mind if we put these handcuffs on you while we process some paperwork?" After killing Rosenbaum, Hamlin and a possible accomplice reportedly tried to used use Rosenbaum's credit cards at a CVS store in southeast Washington and an auto parts business in Prince George's County. As crazy as all of that sounds, that is not the best part of the story. The ita