|
Reason
Foundation…
Reforming Education,
Consumer Spending, and Closure
Former Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush on Reforming Education
As governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007, Jeb Bush championed school
choice. His first year in office he created a program that offered
vouchers to students in failing schools. The program successfully
boosted student achievement until it was struck down by the Supreme
Court in 2006. Two other Bush-supported programs -- one that offers tax
credits to business that help send low-income kids to private schools
and another that gives vouchers to disabled students -– survived the
high-court ruling. Bush also expanded the Florida Virtual School, a
national model for online public education. Since leaving office, Bush
has promoted his reform agenda in other states. He founded the
Foundation for Excellence in Education and serves as co-chair of the
Digital Learning Council. Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie sat down with Bush
at the National Summit on Education Reform in Washington, D.C., to talk
about how information technology can help break the education monopoly.
Consumers Ignore the Fed's
Call to Spend Money
Reason magazine's Tim Cavanaugh writes, "It’s hard to overstate the
direness of American household finances. While the 9.4 percent
unemployment rate gets all the attention, the real story is Americans’
massive loss of wealth. Federal Reserve data show U.S. household net
worth at $53.5 trillion—more than $5 trillion below where it was in
2007, although we’re told the recession ended more than 18 months ago.
As house prices continue to slide (and are expected to keep falling
throughout this year), Americans are seeing a steady depletion of what
is for most people their highest-ticket asset. They’re also seeing a
steady decline in the equity portion of their homes, which has been in
almost constant decline since 1983 (when homeowners had about 70
percent equity) and last month fell to an abysmal 42 percent.
(Homeowners’ equity portion was as high as 80 percent in the 1950s.)"
Family of Virginia
Optometrist Killed by a SWAT Team Finally Gets Some Closure
"Last week The Washington Post reported that Sal Culosi's parents have
reached a $2 million settlement with Fairfax County, Virginia, police
Detective Deval Bullock, who shot and killed the 38-year-old
optometrist during a January 2006 SWAT raid on his home. The unusual
settlement reflects the outrageous facts of this case, in which an
unarmed man suspected of nothing more than betting on sports was
recklessly gunned down during an unnecessarily violent operation. The
SWAT team came to Culosi's house because another Fairfax County
detective, David Baucum, overheard him and some friends wagering on a
college football game at a bar...On the night of January 24, 2006,
Baucum called Culosi and arranged a time to drop by to collect his
winnings. When Culosi, barefoot and clad in a T-shirt and jeans,
stepped out of his house to meet the man he thought was a friend, the
SWAT team moved in. Moments later, Bullock, who had had been on duty
since 4 a.m. and hadn't slept in 17 hours, killed him. Culosi's last
words: 'Dude, what are you doing?'" - Reason magazine's Radley Balko
goes on to describe how the police department avoids transparency and
accountability and says, "After five years of battling stubborn public
officials, an obfuscatory police bureaucracy, and a legal system
designed to make it as difficult as possible to hold the government
accountable, Sal and Anita Culosi should finally allow themselves to
exhale. As much as anyone can in a case like this, they have found the
justice they've been seeking."
|
|
|
|
