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Clarion CallThe Supreme Court and the Inflation of Educational Credentials No. 385 By Lowell Gallaway November 09, 2006 Editor's Note: This week's Clarion Call features a guest commentary by Lowell Gallaway. He is an emeritus professor of economics at Ohio University. Gallaway discusses the impact of a Supreme Court decision 35 years ago and the current emphasis on obtaining academic credentials. In the mid-nineteenth century, the French economist Frederic Bastiat distinguished between good and bad economists by focusing on whether they thought through the long-run consequences of their arguments. According to Bastiat, a good economist was not blinded by the...

"THE SUCCESS of our country depends upon helping newcomers assimilate into our society, and embrace our common identity as Americans," President Bush declared Monday in his Oval Office address on immigration reform. "English allows newcomers to go from picking crops to opening a grocery, from cleaning offices to running offices, from a life of low-paying jobs to a diploma, a career and a home of their own." As the son of legal Costa Rican immigrants whose mother learned English, taught in the Los Angeles City Schools and earned a master's degree from Pepperdine University, I found the President's words pertinent,...

WASHINGTON - Former Minnesota Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy, whose insurgent campaign toppled a sitting president in 1968 and forced the Democratic Party to take seriously his message against the Vietnam War, died Saturday. He was 89. McCarthy died in his sleep at assisted living home in the Georgetown neighborhood where he had lived for the past few years, said his son, Michael. Eugene McCarthy challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson for the 1968 Democratic nomination during growing debate over the Vietnam War. The challenge led to Johnson's withdrawal from the race. The former college professor, who ran for president five times...

WASHINGTON Aug 26, 2005 — The Justice Department on Friday approved a controversial Georgia law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, and opponents immediately vowed to challenge the measure in federal court.The decision, written by John Tanner, chief of the department's voting section, says that while Attorney General Alberto Gonzales doesn't object to the law, approval doesn't preclude lawsuits against it."It's not over yet. We will pursue litigation in federal court," said state Rep. Tyrone Brooks, chairman of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, which earlier had filed an objection to the law with the JusticeThe Republican-backed measure...

Through half of lifetime of observing American conservatives' and neoconservatives' passionate and principled resistance to affirmative action (a resistance that notably waned after the 2003 Grutter decision), I many times heard them quote Hubert Humphrey's famous pledge that if the 1964 Civil Rights Act required racial quotas, he would "eat the paper it's written on." Recently I looked up the text of Humphrey's remark, which he made on the floor of the U.S. Senate on April 9, 1964: It the Senator can find in Title VII ... any language which provides that an employer will have to hire on the...

Open Letter from African Americans to the Democratic Party Open Letter from African Americans to the Democratic Party Email from the author | 6/3/04 | Frances Rice By Frances Rice We, African American citizens of the United States, declare and assert: Whereas in the early 1600’s 20 African men and women were landed in Virginia from a Dutch ship as slaves and from that tiny seed grew the poisoned fruit of plantation slavery which shaped the course of American development, Whereas reconciliation and healing always begin with an apology and an effort to repay those who have been wronged, Whereas...

Four decades ago, Congress passed landmark legislation mandating equal rights for all races--the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Today, there is a political party that vigorously opposes the principles espoused in that legislation. When you enter the voting booth in November, you would do well to consider whether you want to support such an organization. One of the most prominent senators in this party once said of the racist Ku Klux Klan: ''The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth'' in his home state. This same politician said that...

The official DNC transcript of the Al Sharpton speech of about an hour ago does not -- for whatever reason -- make note of the fact that he shouted that it was "UNDER DEMOCRATS!" that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. The fact of the matter is that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed not because of Democrats, but despite them. From FrontPage Magazine: Although the Democrats controlled both houses of the Congress at the time, a much-higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats supported the civil-rights bill. For example, in the House, Republicans voted for civil...

President Bush's address to the 2004 National Urban League Conference in Detroit should be used to highlight the fact that the Republicans' record on civil rights for blacks is far superior to the Democrats' record. Only in our Orwellian world could the Republicans be successfully painted by the Party of Jefferson Davis as the party of Jim Crow. For nearly 100 years American blacks looked to be freed from their chains. When that day finally arrived, thanks to a bloody civil war, there was jubilation. But what did the vast majority of their descendents eventually do? They returned to thee...

The Civil Rights Act was a triumph. The War on Poverty was a quagmire. Forty years ago, our nation embarked on two huge federal initiatives aimed at improving the lot of African-Americans: the War on Poverty and the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The two programs, so different in their assumptions, turned out to be a giant natural experiment in social policy. With the results clearly in, we can distinguish what works to uplift people from what doesn't. The Civil Rights Act was the capstone on America's long and tumultuous effort to make a reality out of its founding assertion, penned...

I couldn't help but notice (and lament) the subtle digs the partisan media took at President Bush when he observed the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act on July 1. It's as if Bush, a Republican, is presumptively disqualified from celebrating civil rights.The Washington Post couldn't be content with reporting on Bush's comments. It had to challenge, however subtly, the genuineness of his commitment to the cause.The Post seemed to be referring to the apparent hypocrisy in the president placing a wreath on Martin Luther King's tomb, then nominating Judge Charles Pickering to the U.S. Court of Appeals, "even...

Why wasn't there more celebration of this milestone for racial equality? It seems that there will be far less commemoration of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 40 years ago yesterday than there was of the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education in May. This is not as it should be. Brown was certainly a milestone in the nation's history, a declaration that separate could not be equal and that racial discrimination is wrong. But Brown was much less effective in ending segregation than the Civil Rights Act. This was...

The East Room THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming, and welcome to the White House. I am so pleased you could join us to celebrate a great anniversary of justice and equality in America. I appreciate members of my Cabinet being here, and a lot of members of my administration. I want to thank many of our distinguished guests who have joined us today. I'm so pleased to see Dr. Dorothy Height -- thank you so much for coming. (Applause.) We've got two Lieutenant Governors, Michael Steele and Jennette Bradley, with us. Thank you both for being here today....

Today in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, President Bush attended the swearing in ceremony of the new representative of the United States to the United Nations, Senator John Danforth. Later in the East Room of the White House, he addressed those attending a reception commemorating the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights bill into law in 1964. Enjoy your trip to Sanity Island on the Daily Dose!

At Thursday's White House press briefing, Press Secretary Scott McClellan talked about the East Room event being held later that day to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. Since a guest list had not yet been released, reporters were asking who would be attending. Q Scott, as far as who is going to be there today, we heard that tentatively the daughter of President Johnson would be there. MR. McCLELLAN: I believe that's correct. We'll get you a list of those who will be attending. And I did see her name on the list. So I suspect...

During the Kennedy administration, the Republican minority in Congress introduced many bills to protect the constitutional rights of blacks, including a comprehensive new civil rights bill. In February 1963, to head off a return by most blacks to the party of Lincoln, Kennedy abruptly decided to submit to Congress a new civil rights bill. Hastily drafted in a single all-nighter, the Kennedy bill fell well short of what our Party had introduced into Congress the month before. Over the next several months, Democrat racists in Congress geared up for a protracted filibuster against the civil rights bill. The bill was...

<p>The top Senate Democrat yesterday defended a colleague's assertion that Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a former Klansman, would have been a great leader during the Civil War.</p> <p>Sen. Tom Daschle said there was "no parallel" between Sen. Christopher J. Dodd's praise of Mr. Byrd and Republican Sen. Trent Lott's praise of former segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond.</p>

During the Kennedy administration, the Republican minority in Congress introduced many bills to protect the constitutional rights of blacks, including a comprehensive new civil rights bill. In February 1963, to head off a return by most blacks to the party of Lincoln, Kennedy abruptly decided to submit to Congress a new civil rights bill. Hastily drafted in a single all-nighter, the Kennedy bill fell well short of what our Party had introduced into Congress the month before. Over the next several months, Democrat racists in Congress geared up for a protracted filibuster against the civil rights bill. The bill was...

More will be at stake than just the political tilt of the state when Georgia goes before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. The state's lawyers will argue a redistricting case that has caused the Republican governor to sue the Democratic attorney general. But on a national scale, the outcome of the case could send a message that might help determine whether Congress renews the 1965 Voting Rights Act four years from now. "That date is looming out there, and it does raise an interesting question to the Supreme Court whether to send a signal to Congress," said Tim Storey,...

1. 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed with Republican support, almost filibustered by Leftists. Gore’s father was one of those who was vehemently against it yet they escape judgment on their actions. It was passed against their vote. 2. If the same type of things were said/written about Byrd... how would the Leftists react? Why are you... selectively choosing our "candidate"? 3. Congress has worked with Lott for decades, why haven't they been exposed to consistent racial characteristics by Lott in the past? 4. Why has Thurmond remained silent? 5. What effects do Welfare and education have on segregation and...