Paying our war debts

This story is from the other day, but it bears mentioning. A bipartisan bill is on the table that would provide full scholarships to in-state public universities, along with housing costs, for any veteran who served at least three years in the armed forces. It also would give vets “15 years to use the benefit, instead of the current 10-year limit, and would set up a new government program that matches financial aid by more expensive private institutions, according to The Washington Post. The program is estimated to cost $51.8 billion over 10 years — not cheap,but the investment would pay significant dividends down the road.

And it’s the right thing to do, regardless of where one stands on the war.

“Meeting the needs of our veterans is a cost of war,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who described the bill as a “thank you” to the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But there are some — Republicans “and even some members of the more fiscally conservative Democratic rank-and-file” — that are “balking at the cost,” while the military is worried that the legislation would encourage . would soldiers to walk away from the service.

The Pentagon has said that it’s open to boosting college aid, even substantially, for veterans but wants the commitment to extend to at least six years, instead of three, before the full benefit kicks in.

“The last thing we want to do is create a situation in which we are losing our men and women who we have worked so hard to train,” said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.

But U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., one of the sponsors,

counters that his legislation would be more effective in attracting new recruits and would offset any drop in the military’s ranks.

“I can’t think of a better way to broaden (the) propensity to serve than to offer a truly meaningful educational benefit, rather than simply taking that smaller demographic” of those already enlisted “and pound on it” with repeated combat tours, he said.

More importantly, the people we are sending into war deserve more than the stop-loss program and IEDs.

“Visit Walter Reed,” said Marty Conatser, head of the American Legion, in a recent statement urging Congress to pass the bill. “War is expensive indeed and the bulk of that cost is paid for by the men and women who wear the uniform. Benefits are just a small, small cost of war.”

A cost we have a moral responsibility to pay.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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House in flux

Paul Krugman points out an interesting fact today and then asks the $64,000 question on his blog:

Do you remember how, after the 2004 election, we had — according to all the talking heads — entered a new era of permanent Republican dominance? At that point the GOP held 232 seats in the House to the Democrats’ 202 — and this was thought of as overwhelming dominance.

After last night’s special election in Miss., the Democrats hold 236 seats to the Republicans’ 199.

Can the Democrats nonetheless find a way to lose the presidential race?

I’m afraid of what the answer might be.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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Windfall to nowhere

The state apparently did better during the third quarter of the current fiscal year than it initially expected, giving it $533 million more in revenue than expected.

The money, however, won’t go very far — much of it is rightly targeted to debt reduction, though the governor wants to shift some to reverse aid cuts to small towns and restore the state Department of Agriculture, both of which are worthy recipients. But there is no mention of restoring aid to hospitals or higher education, both of which seem more important to me.

And, just as significantly, the extra revenue this year is expected to disappear again during the 2008-2009 budget year. As the Ledger writes, state Treasurer David Rousseau

emphasized the state continues to have serious budget problems despite the windfall, which was based on last year’s tax returns when the economy still was thriving. That isn’t the case now, and Rousseau said he expects revenues in the budget year that begins July 1 to be $159 million lower than anticipated.

So, while the windfall is nice, it means little in the long run.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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The ugliness in our souls

I want to believe that we have entered a new age, one in which we have made progress, where we respect diversity and humanity.

But everyday offers us reminders that the world we live in remains mired in hate and stupidity.

Consider these stories — one from The Star-Ledger, the other from our sister paper, The Windsor-Heights Herald.

From the Ledger:

A routine fire drill at Hightstown High School in Mercer County turned terrifying for one student.

As students gathered outside on school grounds one morning last week, someone came up behind a 16-year-old junior, a member of the Sikh faith, and allegedly set the boy’s turban on fire.

His hair was singed in several places, but he was otherwise unhurt, according to his uncle, Harjot Pannu.

“He felt like a bee stung him, and he patted on it,” said Pannu. “Next thing he knew, a teacher came over and told him he was on fire.”

An 18-year-old Hightstown senior, Garrett Green, was arrested hours later and charged with arson and criminal mischief, said Ben Miller, an investigator with the Hightstown Police Department.

From the Herald:

For a second week in a row, area police reported anti-Semitic and anti-American vandalism.

At 5:17 a.m. Thursday, East Windsor police discovered “anti-Semitic and anti-American statements” painted on concrete barriers on Route 133 in the area of Wycoffs Mill Road.

Police Chief William Spain declined to elaborate on what was written, except to say there were no symbols or specific threats.

The investigation indicates the criminal mischief was committed during the early morning hours. Township police were being assisted by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice and the Mercer County prosecutor’s office, which Chief Spain said is standard procedure with apparent hate crimes.

Just last week, township police reported similar graffiti on a Route 133 barrier near Route 571 had been found April 27. Meanwhile, Hightstown police reported this week that a building was vandalized with anti-Jewish and anti-black graffiti that was left between 3 p.m. April 18 and 4 p.m. April 25.

Police Chief James Eufemia declined to reveal the location of the building, saying that could jeopardize the investigation, but he did say the vandalism included swastikas.

”The graffiti was large enough to read at a distance. However, at this time I am not disclosing exactly what was written,” he said. “There were two swastikas located on a section of asphalt, and another located on the building.”

What’s going on here?

It would be easy to dismiss these incidents as pranks, and I don’t want to blow them out of proportion. But calling them pranks makes too little of what happened.

As Thurman Hart says on Blue Jersey:

If it is “just a prank”, then it is a dangerous one. As a friend of mine said when we discussed it: “In the first place, you don’t play with fire. In the second place, you don’t play with setting another person on fire. In the third place, you don’t mess with people’s religious paraphenalia.”

This kind of thing just can’t be tolerated.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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