For years, the left worked to construct a more socialist public education system. During his tenure as Arkansas governor, Bill Clinton helped to author the "Goals 2000" program, which was used to help draft the No Child Left Behind Act. In many liberal states, homeschool laws are rather stringent due to liberals' desire to extend the socialist infrastructure of the public school into the homeschool, often in questionable violation of the first amendment rights of the family.

So, now that they have a president who pushed through their educational agenda (No Child Left Behind), they're rallying against the provision of the act that allowed high schools to release the information of graduating seniors to armed forces recruiters. Sure, it makes a great soapbox issue, and I'm sure there's no shortage of pithy slogans being spewed through megaphones outside of many high school campuses. But if anything is making something out of nothing, this is it.

As I pointed out previously, this information has been in the database for years for young men. As every American with a "Y" chromosome is well aware, we have to fill out that little card for selective service within 30 days of our 18th birthday. It's the law, as countless posters strategically placed remind us. So all this does is add the young women into the same database.

And that information isn't even new information. Guess what? Those graduation supplements in most local newspapers can just as readily be used to obtain the information that recruiters need. And somehow, every damn credit card company in America knows your name; why should military recruiters be denied access to information readily available to mass marketing companies?

Sure, this is a war that's growing unpopular. But we live in an era where most people who sign up for the military know full well they will likely have to serve in combat. And even in an era of peace, such as the one in which I graduated, it's no secret that combat is one of the primary functions of the military. There's no deception here, no targetting of minorities, as opponents allege (HELLO? If they have EVERY graduate's name, well, then, they aren't singling out minorities there, are they?), and certainly no breach of individual rights. In every way conceivable, this is a political nonissue.

So why won't it die?