Issues of the Day

Although I have a point of view on most things, I am sometimes surprised by how someone else sees an issue or news that paints an issue in a new light. Here is what I read today that fit into these categories.

First, news that is completely surprising -- the Wall Street Journal reports on the school in Los Angeles that cost nearly $600 million to build -- much more than it cost to build the Staples arena not far from this school. I have tended to have the view that good money follows bad in financing of public schools, yet, I had no idea of the extravagance heaped on the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex. And, for the most part, the people approved this expenditure through bond issues. The amenities at this school ready to open in a few days include vaulted ceilings and "florid murals of Robert F. Kennedy." A person overseeing this venture noted that there was no price for having good taste. The one thing that was not shocking to me was a track record for a similar glitzy, high-dollar venue in L.A. (Roybal Learning Center) -- it badly underperformed compared to the overcrowded and non-descript school it was meant to supplement.

Second, George Will's Washington Post op-ed, shares the thinking of Walter Russell Mead regarding the climate change issue. According to Mead the apparent slowdown of the climate change zeitgeist is somewhat predictable because its movement fifty years ago was one of skeptics of government and conventional thinking. The environmentalists took on such "scientific" movements like urban renewal and nation building. They were close cousins of economic Libertarians who also had a disdain for government solutions. Now the environmental movement is Big Brother, driven by a government and scientific consensus that has little toleration for skeptics. In any case, Mead's point of view is interesting and one I had not thought of before.

These things might give one pause -- especially those working and studying at college -- for not thinking there is another side. Of course, when these arguments tend to support your point of view you are more likely to read them.