I like to think that discussion here at Ex Parte is thoughtful, and (usually) civil and polite. After all, the Federalist Society exists "to sponsor fair, serious, and open debate," and one reason that we have such success in promoting debate between liberals, conservatives, and libertarians is that we treat people well regardless of their views.

Apparently the headline writers at the Washington Post think this is an unusual way for conservatives to behave, however. In today's paper, they spotlight Indiana Representative Mike Pence with a headline that reads: Putting a New Face On Conservatism:
Ind. Lawmaker Favors Polite Debate. As is often the case, it's a headline not well-supported by the article:

In a former life, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) liked to describe himself as Rush Limbaugh on decaf.

The phrase was verbal shorthand that the future congressman developed to explain his regional Indiana radio talk show, in which he delivered conservative political opinions with the even tones and polite demeanor of his Midwest upbringing.

"I occasionally got called the Rush Limbaugh of Indiana, but most people knew that my style was different," Pence said in an interview at his Capitol Hill office. "I'd tell people, 'I'm a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.' And my Christianity, first and foremost, governed the way that I tried to deal with people."

You'd think that there are enough conservatives in Washington that everyone at the Post would realize that Rush Limbaugh is not the only "face" of conservatism.

It's good to see that just as the Iraqis appear to be making strides towards wresting their country from the hands of terrorists, Arthur Chrenkoff is winning his war to make sure that good news makes it out of Iraq.

As you may know, Chrenkoff has tirelessly produced his "Good News From..." series of roundups of the positive stories from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East that go uncovered by the regular media. With Terry Schiavo as the focus of the news, you may have missed this story in (gasp!) the New York Times, featuring not only positive news from Baghdad, but even, yes, a positive headline: "There Are Signs the Tide May Be Turning on Iraq's Street of Fear." I have no doubt that the Times will be all over the next bit of bad news from Baghdad, so read it while you can.

In particular, what seems to have Times reporter John Burns willing to put a positive spin on the situation is the diminishment of attacks (i.e. "fewer attacks = we're winning.") On the front lines, blogger Lt. Currie suggests this may be as excessively simplified as the old view ("attacks = we're losing"):

Since we arrived in AO B’dad, insurgent activity has dropped off to almost nothing. Not that we have done such a stellar job at hunting the enemy that they have decided to give up and go back to whatever country they came from. No, I sincerely don’t think that we are so lucky. They, the “terrorists” (a word I grow in increasingly weary of hearing) are not throwing in the towel; they are now waiting just as we are waiting. We have indeed moved into the next stage of this after-war...

What I see here is real honest to God progress. We are rebuilding the infrastructure from the ground up. This nation is standing on its own two feet now, as an infant would. So, there will be set backs, and Iraq may fall on its bum from time to time, but like a growing child, eventually will walk on its own.

In that vein, (while I've got your attention on the country where Lt. Currie and 150,000 other fine men and women are fighting for freedom) here's a good example of Iraqis ordinary standing on their own two feet:

Baghdad Shopkeepers and Residents Trade Gunfire With Masked Insurgents, Killing Three of Them: Gunbattles erupted out in the streets of the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Doura, where militants wearing black hoods and riding in three cars opened fire on people shopping on a main street. Shopkeepers and residents returned fire, killing three assailants. A man, woman and child were injured and taken to a hospital.

Not much in the way of details. The Lebanon Daily Star report editorializes that this is the "latest indication of the Wild West atmosphere" in Iraq. Yep, complete with posses to go after the bad guys.

Right now, CNN's headline reads: "Official: Student Kills 5 at School and Grandparents." At the school, the student apparently killed "a female teacher, a male security officer and four students -- one of them being the shooter."

That's right, six people, including the shooter.

Apparently, CNN uses a different system of counting than Agence France-Presse, which insists on counting Iraqi insurgents/terrorists as part of the death tool from their attacks.

But, this story suggests that AFP covers both the same way.

The Boston Globe features this inspiring story about a Dominican immigrant's business success:

Surveying his cavernous Jamaica Plain warehouse, stocked high with colorfully-packaged items from teas to spices to canned vegetables to frijoles, frijoles, and more frijoles, Mariano Suriel nods his head with measured approval...

This month Suriel, 48, of Jamaica Plain, celebrates the first anniversary of Suriel Food Products Distributor in its current location, the Brewery Small Business Center, part of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. His small, but quickly growing company supplies Latino neighborhood markets and restaurants around the region with frijoles and much more. Suriel, who worked as an accountant and sporting goods retailer in the Dominican Republic, arrived in New York City a year and a half ago, determined to establish a new life in the United States for his family...

''Imported food doesn't come in directly to Boston's port," he says through a Spanish translator. ''It all comes through New Jersey. This means that a shop or restaurant owner sometimes has to wait a day or two to get food products. But with all of the products stocked up right here, I'm always ready to fill their order and make deliveries right away."

Suriel laughs when he recalls his first month in business. ''I made $190," he says. ''But then things got much better; for the rest of the year, I brought in $13,000 a month on average."

The key to Suriel's success? A $500 micro-credit loan from Accion, the international micro-lender. Micro-credit is more widely-discussed as a means of extending effective aid for international development, bypassing corrupt or centrally-planned government large-scale government programs to enable small-scale entrepreneurship.

For some reason, conservatives have rarely embraced microentrepreneurship programs in the way that liberals have (for example, Hillary Clinton promoted microlending while First Lady). It's ironic because they promote self-sufficiency, financial skills, personal responsibility (through loan repayment), and all the other economic values that conservatives seek to promote. They're often administered most effectively at the local level, by private non-profits as opposed to government programs. And as Mr. Suriel's example illustrates, a little money can go a long way. It takes a whole lot of failures to add up to the cost of providing a welfare-style handout.

One argument that I've heard made is an empirical argument, that the track record of microlenders is mixed and they rarely achieve self-sufficiency. This would help explain why Chase or Citibank are not in the microlending business -- to support the administrative load to properly vet applicants for $500 loans, the interest rate might have to be usurious. That doesn't mean it's an inappropriate realm for charitable organizations, however, or even for local government programs.

Incidentally, microlending has been identified as a tool for facilitating entrepreneurship in rural areas of the United States as well. On a flight not too long ago I sat next to a fellow from northern Nebraska who had started a candy business with a loan from the Rural Enterprise Assistance Program.