The Buzz

School district to students: get a free lunch so we can have ours What price pride?A human emotion strange to the culture of entitlement is posing problems for Missouri public-school officials: Students and families eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches aren't signing up because of, well, pride. Older students believe it's "not cool" to be poor, the state finance director explained, and parents of elementary-age children don't want to be seen as unable to feed their children. But all this pride is botching up everything from test-score interpretation to school budgets. In a lengthy report published last month in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, school officials bemoaned low school-performance numbers and the loss of state funds, blaming those problems on kids and parents who prefer to feed themselves rather than receive government aid. Normandy High School principal Alvin Smith was upset that his school received an "F" in the Post-Dispatch's annual school report last year. He blamed his school's poor showing in part on not having enough school-lunch applications on file. Schools are rated according to student performance on standardized tests, but schools with lower student socioeconomic status are graded on a curve. To establish that curve, schools use the number of school-lunch program applications on file to prove the socioeconomic status of their student bodies. Mr. Smith believes his school would have received a higher grade if more families simply admitted their poverty, but also added, "We're not allowed to use poverty as an excuse." Missouri schools are eligible for an additional $1,139 in state aid for each child with a school-lunch application on file. District officials say over-proud families are causing their schools to miss out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in state money. To grab more of that cash, many schools have launched marketing efforts to increase the number of lunch-program applications. But it takes money to make money. To secure more tax dollars, schools are spending more tax dollars to encourage families to apply. Promotional activities range from school-wide mailings costing thousands to offering five entrée choices instead of three in school cafeterias. Normandy School District innovators now pry reluctant students away from their pesky pride by holding drawings for kids who have a school-lunch application on file-even if they don't qualify for a free lunch financially. Last month, six students won a portable CD player, a stereo, or a video game. When you buy it from children, pride comes cheap.

Ups & Downs of the Week

NFLer arrested, Rocker suspended, Vermeil quits Peaks and valleys The big sports spotlight was on Kurt Warner and his teammates last week, but three other stories soon emerged. In the shadows, a few hours after the Super Bowl, Baltimore Ravens star linebacker Ray Lewis allegedly participated in the fatal stabbing of two men near an Atlanta nightclub. In an instant Mr. Lewis went from being at the top of his game to hitting one of the lowest rungs of society, and last week he was in an Atlanta jail on charges of first-degree murder rather than in Hawaii to play in the Pro Bowl, the NFL's all-star game. Last Nov. 30 Mr. Lewis was accused of punching a woman in a Baltimore bar. He said he was innocent and remarked, "The devil is busy, always after God's children. He is always trying to get you one way or another." Mr. Lewis was scheduled to be tried for that incident on Feb. 9 on a charge of second-degree assault, but that trial will be delayed. The day after the Super Bowl victory, Major League Baseball suspended hard-throwing, wild-talking pitcher John Rocker until May 1, fined him $20,000, and ordered him to undergo "sensitivity" training. The baseball players union quickly appealed that decision, particularly emphasizing the fine and suspension, which will keep Mr. Rocker, near the top of his game, out of spring training and the first month of the season. But, while baseball businessmen may be rightfully evaluating the financial cost of words that could sow racial dissension and alienate fans, the order to head to a particular type of reeducation camp seems like an overreach to those who take the First Amendment seriously. Two days after the Super Bowl victory, a small spotlight shone on St. Louis Rams coach Dick Vermeil, 63, who chose to retire at the top of his game. Mr. Vermeil led the Rams to a 16-3 record this year after going 9-23 during his first two years. A successful National Football League coach during the 1970s and early 1980s, he complained of burnout and left coaching for 15 years, then came back for not only a last hurrah but a great one. FCC backs off content regs Changing the channel Members of the Federal Communications Commission had heard all the static they could stand-so they changed the channel. The FCC, which regulates the broadcast airwaves, found itself embroiled in a controversy over regulating the content of broadcasts. Swamped by protests from members of Congress, religious broadcasters, church leaders, and thousands of their constituents, the FCC last week reversed a section of a Dec. 29 ruling that attempted to define and regulate religious content on some Christian-operated television stations (WORLD, Jan. 22). The commissioners voted 4-1 to vacate two paragraphs of "Additional Guidance" in that ruling. The ruling granted permission to Cornerstone Television, a Christian nonprofit in Greensburg, Pa., to acquire a station in Pittsburgh operating under an educational license. The "guidance," which would have had the force of law, spelled out examples of religious content deemed acceptable and unacceptable for fulfilling educational and cultural requirements. Only about 20 Christian broadcast firms that hold educational TV licenses would have been affected, but many religious broadcasters warned that the government action had vast implications and violated the freedom of religion and speech. Now, FCC chairman William Kennard says disputes over content quotas will continue to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. (Pressure on the FCC, dominated by Clinton appointees, to back off included threats of "a legislative remedy" by Congress and, reportedly, "advice" from Vice President Gore.) Days prior to the FCC reversal, Cornerstone-alarmed by the guidelines-announced it had canceled its complex deal to obtain Channel 16 in Pittsburgh. "No way will we proceed," a Cornerstone spokesman told WORLD. "The FCC showed its true intent. We have no assurances the government won't attempt to restrict our freedom later on."

Faces

for taxpayers, Clinton's talk isn't cheap $1.6 billion per minute President Clinton wants to have his surplus and spend it too, according to a Washington watchdog group. After Mr. Clinton's State of the Union address, analysts at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) tallied up how much new spending he proposed. The annual result: $125.8 billion in new spending and $14.6 billion in targeted tax breaks. These proposals, "absent any tax increase, would break this year's discretionary spending caps as well as dip into the so-called Social Security Trust Fund," the NTUF reported. In his speech Mr. Clinton called for spending more on programs ranging from entitlements like Medicare (by allowing people as young as 55 to buy into the program) to agencies like AmeriCorps, a program identified by government investigators as rife with waste. According to NTUF analyst Tom McClusky, for every minute the golden-tongued Mr. Clinton spoke, he proposed $1.6 billion in new spending. Welfare-to-ouija scheme tossed Tarot and state Discrimination against religion took another ugly turn late last month when New York City officials kicked the Psychic Network off its list of businesses in which to place welfare recipients. Since last April 15 people had exchanged the dole for $10 an hour jobs in which they purportedly offered clairvoyance to callers foolish enough to call a 900 number and pay up to $4.99 a minute. The qualifications for psychic stardom were a high school diploma and the ability to read, write, and speak English; the Network trained new hires in tarot card reading and tips on keeping the lonely and gullible on the line. When the psychic/state connection became public late last month, city Human Resources Administration HRA spokesman Ruth Reinecke at first defended the psychic hot line jobs, noting that "the pay is rather good" and employees could work out of their homes. But city officials, proud of the city's record in cutting its welfare rolls from 1.2 million people to about 630,000, and not wanting to give ammunition to critics, soon dropped the Network. Now those leaving the welfare rolls have to choose from companies such as Rite Aid, Madison Square Garden, and Macy's. No Comment Zone

Quick Takes

Old games make a comeback Video invaders Old video games never die; they just get repackaged. Favorites from the first generation of video games keep reappearing years after they were considered technologically passé. Space Invaders is the latest to get such treatment. Activision released an updated version of the game with a copy of the original hidden as a prize for skillful players to find. Originally released back in 1978, it became ubiquitous by the early 1980s, with kids and adults lining up to slug quarters into machines. The original Space Invaders' simplicity is amazing to those used to complex buttons that require dexterity and memorization of arcane rules and tricks. With this game, you just shoot the aliens before they shoot you. The new Space Invaders is just part of the ongoing video-game nostalgia market. Microsoft has two volumes of old games like Pole Position, Dig Dug, and Pac Man. Activision has dozens of its old console games like Private Eye, Space War, and Yar's Revenge available. And Hasbro bought the rights to the old Atari games, giving the world new versions of old quarter crunchers like Pong, Missile Command, and Centipede. Why are all these games back? Not all of them are great; the old Activision games are often forgettable. But kids in the 1980s spent countless hours on these things, and buying the games for the PCs give them a second taste of sixth grade. People bring them out again like they do old favorite board games. Too many of today's games are endless rehashes of one another, trying to show off the latest technology. In the late 1970s, there was nothing to clone so designers had to be imaginative just to survive. Some of their creations may be played for decades to come.-by Chris Stamper Jacoby mourns the left Unhappy liberal Russell Jacoby is an unhappy leftist. In his latest book, The End of Utopia, (Basic Books), he complains that his comrades are too busy striking a marginalized pose to make a difference in society. Mr. Jacoby, a UCLA historian, especially means his academic colleagues. With the downfall of communism, he says, the left lost its ideals and is left to pontificate away about such tedious pursuits as multiculturalism and cultural studies. "Stripped of a racial idiom, robbed of a utopian hope, liberals and leftists retreated in the name of progress to celebrate diversity," he writes. "With few ideas on how a future should be shaped, they embrace all ideas." Mr. Jacoby complains that there are no public intellectuals to guide people toward a better world, even though liberalism is everywhere. He also seems not to understand that old-style leftism, which pitted the masses against the Establishment in search of redistributed wealth, falls flat in a world in which the left is in charge. Politically, though, the left has won. Many debates do not pit liberals vs. conservatives or libertarians. Instead, liberal pragmatists and liberal idealists fight it out. Mr. Jacoby has thrown his lot in with the idealists.-Chris Stamper Everyman columnist thrives Dave2k Dave Barry for President? Since he got his job at The Miami Herald back in 1983, he's become America's most popular humor columnist, dishing out a silly point of view from his baby-boomer perspective. Mr. Barry put the phrase "I am not making this up" into common usage. His new publicity stunt is "Dave2k," a mock presidential campaign, which features a website (deep inside Herald.com) that spoofs the super-seriousness of most political literature. "You can call me courageous if you want, but I am against crime,"he says in one of his position papers. He also claims to have been born "July 3, 1947, in the same log cabin that Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy were born in." That Mr. Barry has survived all these years is amazing. Many have tried to do humor and print, but only a select few do it well and a tiny number of those can do it steadily. Also, today's bland, lackluster world of chain newspapers doesn't breed many great columnists anymore. His 20 nonfiction books plus one novel and a TV series are a massive mound of consistency. His critics claim he makes baby boomers feel better by belittling everything outside their milieu, yet his popularity is unabated. In Erma Bombeck-esque fashion, his column reflects his own life. For example, a recent piece talks about visiting his son's college dorm room, buried in pizza boxes. Mr. Barry's humor reflects an Everyman approach with a light libertarian touch. He once proposed that all taxes be reduced so everyone only had to pay $8.95. "Cheating would be allowed," he told Reason magazine. "But the incentive to cheat wouldn't be nearly as great if you only had to pay the $8.95."-Chris Stamper