Happy Holidays Merry Christmas
Today's Wall Street Journal takes on the ultra-secularist grinches who are "trying their best to strip from our public squares any hint of what most Americans will actually be celebrating come Christmas morn." The latest tactic: renaming Christmas trees as "holiday trees." Not having an established church is fine, and solidly grounded in the Constitution. But the matter has gone to absurd lengths. As the Journal says, "Somehow we doubt that this is what Thomas Jefferson had in mind with his wall of separation."

The change in attitudes is remarkable, even in my relatively short lifetime. I've never been a big fan of Christmas trees. For various reasons there's been a tree in my house a grand total of once in my adult life. Still, the change troubles me, and I was taken aback when a family member mentioned that she was going to buy a "holiday tree."

And which holiday would that be, dear?

I am safe in assuming she has neither Kwanza nor Hanukkah in mind, leaving us with, yup, Christmas.

The Journal lays some of the blame for language-scrubbing at the feet of the Supreme Court, which has in recent years gotten into such debates as how many faux candy canes must be present to legitimize the display of a creche in a public square. But even more blame must be pinned to ordinary folks, who have been too willing to let the Supremes be, well, Supreme in matters of social morality and cultural expectations. While Christmas has religious origins, it is hardly a purely religious season. So calling simply using its name is hardly a threat to democracy.

Besides, the current fad of substituting "Holiday" for "Christmas" won't last long. For as the Journal concludes, the secular-at-all-costs crowd won't be happy in any case. The word "holiday" originates in the words "holy day."

So before we are reduced to saying "Have a day," say it loud and say it proud: Merry Christmas.
(permalink)

Who's a Terrorist Now?
Citing security concerns, the City of Chicago has told a 76-year old woman that her 22 Christmas seasons as a volunteer pianist at Midway airport are not good enough. She's been relocated from the food court to the baggage claim area.

Tribune columnist John Kass weighs in with this observation: "Airline travelers passing through Chicago are often under the mistaken impression that the airports are about planes. But airports are actually machines that print money for friends of City Hall."

"Phyllis," the volunteer pianist, doesn't turn money for anyone other than charities. But her (and their) take has plummeted dramatically since she has been moved to an area from which people just want to move out.

The city says that Phyllis can't play in the food court because only ticketed passengers can be there. Kass asks why they can't just give her a different clearance; the feds are OK with that, he says.
(permalink)

Education Standards in Illinois
The Chicago Public Schools started a standards-based reform effort last year, an effort which includes grading schools. The feds have also gotten into the business with the No Child Left Behind Act, and the two programs are causing some confusion and controversy.

Says the Chicago Sun-Times, "Under the federal system, 83 percent of Chicago schools aren't making the grade." The comparable number under the CPS system is 53 percent. So some schools that would be penalized under the federal law are getting bonuses under the CPS plan. Not surprisingly, one principal, whose school received a CPS bonus even though it falls on the NCLB watch list, says of the CPS plan: "It's absolutely more humane."

Meanwhile, the Daily Herald reviews the government-run schools in northeastern Illinois and finds that " if the 100 percent standard were applied today, judging solely by the school's composite reading score, only one of 560 schools in the six-county suburban area would pass."

This has lead many school officials to say that the standards are unrealistic. But federal SecEd Rod Paige says that this merely reflects "soft bigotry" of low expectations. He points to Hillcrest Elementary in Elgin Area School District U-46. There, the percentage of students who met the standards for math was 28 percent; now, it's 96.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune finds that government-run elementary schools in the state have, as a whole, improved their performance, with high schools declining.
(permalink)

Government Employee Health Insurance vs. Community Mental Health Treatment
A tight budget in Gogebic County, Michigan, is pitting health insurance coverage of county workers with mental health treatment for county residents.

No, the county is not planning to cut its budget dramatically. In fact, the budget grows faster than inflation (just over 3.25 percent). But funding for Gogebic Community Mental Health has been cut 44 percent from last year (from $90,000 to $50,000). Meanwhile, spending on health insurance for county employees has gone up $125,000.

Health is a good thing, and if people want to spend more money on it as their incomes rise, so much the better. But health insurance premiums have seen double-digit increases in recent years, in part because the incentives are all wrong. When insurance costs are borne primarily by a third party (in this story, the county as employer), there's no reason for the end user (the insured) to be a smart shopper, and costs soar.

Now, I don't know much about the Gogebic County budget, nor do I know any of the County employees. But I suspect that the County could be spending less money on insurance and more money on treating the mentally ill if its employee insurance plans were less in the traditional mode and more in the direction of individual responsibility. Something along the lines of Health Savings Accounts could be just what the doctor ordered.
(permalink)

He's Number 6: Another Illinois Governor Indicted
George Ryan (R), former governor of Illinois, was indicted the other day on charges of political corruption. Said U. S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation to lame duck U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald), ""What we're alleging in the indictment basically is that the state of Illinois was for sale, for friends and family at times."

Ryan's attorney shows that he's planning on cashing in on the acclaim the guv has received in some circles for throwing a wrench into the death penalty process in the state. (In an 11th-hour move, Ryan commuted the sentences of all death row inmates.)

All this makes me glad that I didn't vote for Ryan when I had the chance. I disagreed with his policy stands, thought his political strategy was poor (he tried to run to the cultural left of his Democratic opponent in the gubernatorial election), and simply felt uncomfortable voting for him.

Ryan is the sixth governor in Illinois history to face criminal charges. The Chicago Tribune (registration required) offers a review of the state's sordid political history.

Sigh. There is nothing new under the sun.
(permalink)

Do Tax Hikes Save Jobs? Government Jobs, At Least
Chip Taylor comments on a study from the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Michigan government must erase a tax deficit by raising taxes or cutting spending (or, of course, a combination). The Upjohn researchers say that raising taxes is better, because it results in a smaller number of jobs lost.

There's one thing to note about this study, though, and that's where the jobs tend to be lost. With spending cuts, it's in the state employee workforce; with tax increases, it's private sector jobs that are lost.

Pretty obvious, you say? Well, read Chip Taylor, who offers the breakdown of job losses by sector (private, public, goods, services). Quite interesting.

As he says, "Any questions about why government employees favor tax hikes? Anybody? Anybody?"
(permalink)

School Choice Works
In 1998, Arizona created a tax credit of $500 for donations to organizations that offer scholarships for school tuition. Since the, 47 organizations have received over $83 million on donations.

The Goldwater Institute has recently published several new reports on the effects of school choice. One assesses the effects of the tax credit program. It finds that when students stop attending government-operated schools, the expenses those schools must bear is lowered, which goes a low way towards offsetting the revenue loss to the treasury of the tax credits. A second concludes that parents who take advantage of these scholarships are, not surprisingly, highly satisfied with the schooling their children are getting.
(permalink)

The Silver Lining in the Medicare Cloud
The recently passed Medicare bill is by and large bad policy. It expands a health care welfare state that is already headed for fiscal disaster, and threatens the vitality of the pharmaceutical industry for good measure.

That being said, the bill does have some good measures concerning Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). They operate similar to Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs), but with several advantages. Most importantly, eligibility is greatly expanded, to include just about everyone under 65. This should go a long ways to guaranteeing a critical mass that will attract more insurers to offer policies and related products. Greg Scandlen of the Galen Institute offers a brief review of why "the new Medicare bill stands a good chance of revitalizing America's currently crumbling healthcare system."
(permalink)

End of Term Limits?
In Michigan, Rep. John Pappageorge wants voters to repeal term limits. Detroit Free Press columnist Dawson Bell is not impressed: "like so many of his colleagues, when it comes to term limits, Pappageorge is delusional."

The Cato Institute has published several studies on the subject of term limits, and has reasonably positive words to say about them. Term limits tend to weaken legislative leadership and the importance of seniority. They also tend to make races for office more competitive and open up office to women and some minorities.
(permalink)

Congratulations to U.S. Forces
Not much time to add a comment here, and you've read the news elsewhere. But the capture of Saddam Hussein is such good news that it's worth mentioning. Good morning, free world!
(permalink)

How Taxing is Your State?
If you want to know how your state matches up with others in its tax burden, a good place to start looking is the Tax Foundation.

There are various ways to slice and dice tax information, and the results can be surprising. New York and Connecticut have reputations of being high-tax states, of course. But in what state, would you guess, are residents most heavily burdened when you compare total state and local spending with personal income? The answer: Maine. But that state drops to number 9 in the ranking when federal taxes are thrown into the mix. Why? The "progressive" nature of the federal tax system penalizes prosperity. Since other states are more prosperous than Maine, they jump up on the list of most heavily taxed states.
(permalink)