Raju Narisetti's Tweet

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2011/05/raju-narisetti-tweet

Mike Allen's Politico Playbook reports:

WHAT A TOP WASHPOST EDITOR THINKS – Raju Narisetti (one of two managing editors) tweets: "Thought encounter of the day: 'Would be good if our schools are fully funded and DoD has to hold a bake sale to buy its next fighter jet.'" Somewhere in Takoma Park, a Volvo is missing its bumper sticker. (What next: Whirled peas? Arms are for hugging?) Certainly not kicking the Pentagon when it's down! Raju's Twitter bio: "I am never speaking for The Post." See the tweet. http://bit.ly/l9k6DI

--FLASHBACK – WP Ombudsman Andy Alexander, Sept. 25, 2009, "Post Editor Ends Tweets as New Guidelines Are Issued": "'We can incur all sorts of federal deficits for wars and what not. … But we have to promise not to increase it by $1 for healthcare reform? Sad.' … What makes these tweets significant is that they were written by Raju Narisetti, one of The Post's top editors. As one of two managing editors, he's responsible for The Post's features content and oversees its Web site. But he also sits in on news meetings and occasionally gets involved in 'hard' news. Narisetti said today he now realizes that his tweets, although intended for a private audience of about 90 friends and associates, were unwise. They were 'personal' observations, he said. 'But I also realize that... seeing that the managing editor of The Post is weighing in on this, it's a clear perception problem.'" http://wapo.st/4CGEly

Just for the record, on the substance of Mr. Narisetti's complaint (aside from the question of whether a news editor should be making it) the Department of Education reports that "School districts had total expenditures of approximately $562.3 billion in 2006-07, including about $476.8 billion in current expenditures for public elementary and secondary education. Of the remaining expenditures, $62.9 billion was spent on capital outlay, $14.7 billion on interest payments on debt, and $7.8 billion on other programs (programs such as community services and adult education, which are not a part of public elementary and secondary education)."

For Fiscal 2007, the National Defense Budget (which includes not just the Pentagon but also a lot of other stuff like the flood control activities of the Army Corps of Engineers and the nuclear weapons activities of the Department of Energy) was $471 billion.

So taxpayers are already spending more on education than on defense. And plenty of grassroots, volunteer fundraising activities exist to support defense operations as well as education.

by Ira Stoll  |  May 9, 2011 at 11:57 am Related Topics:  Education receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list