The Skill Gap and an Illegal War

Tow things I want to address today.

First, researchers at U of C (University of Chicago) have seen a “stagnation” of the “skill gap” between white and black students on test scores. During the 20^th century, we saw a closing of the gap between the students of different races, but then I the 1990s the closing of the gap stopped, and we’ve seen the same continuous gap between test scores. While test scores have improved across the board, what we see is that there still is a lot of work to do. White students are still out performing black students and parity seems like a pipe dream at this point. Education is often the key to economic success, and without a doubt the key to networking and opportunity. While better test scores are a positive thing to look at, the gap between the scores are a cause of worry. If this country wants to try and achieve full economic and social equality (let alone political) in all races, then we must educate all our children without any prejudices. Blacks have been behind the 8-ball since 1619 (the first time they came to this country, or what would become this country), progress has been very gradual since 1865. While huge strides were made in the 20^th century, specifically the latter half of the 20^th century, we are still, as a nation, far, far away from judicial, political, social, and economical equality. While education is only part of the answer, it is one part of the equation that the government can fully control, along with judicial equality (social and economic trends are much more difficult to enforce). Achieving parity on educational test scores would be a huge step towards achieving some sort of equality.

Secondly, the full report of the legal advice that Tony Blair received during the lead up to the war in Iraq was released to the public today. Why is this important? Because it shows that Blair and the government were worried about the legality of the war, as far as to think that a international court may find the war illegal. The British government was fully aware of that this was (or might be) an illegal war, which means a lot of things. It means that the White House was fully aware that this war was (or might be) illegal. It means that the White House didn’t care, and knew the American people wouldn’t care either and that if an international court tried to do anything it would only enrage Americans. It means that the public’s trust of Blair might be next to nothing. It means that Labour might be in for a tougher time in these elections next week than anyone can expect. What will probably save Blair in the end is the fact that the Torries also supported the war. If there was a clear cut alternative to Labour and the war on Iraq, Blair would be a sitting duck. While the Liberal-Democrats were against the war and still are, the public is still wary of them as a political party. But this might be one of those elections were we begin to see the rise of the Lib-Dems as an opposition party.