The New York Times has a way of assigning tabloid-like headlines that obscure the truth more than they illuminate it.

Take this example.

Army Giving More Waivers in Recruiting

The article then goes on to talk about so-called "moral waivers" increasing. These generally are used to let in someone who has a conviction, usually in a juvenile court, for serious misdemeanors like aggravated assault, burglary, robbery and vehicular homicide, or even a less-serious felony convictions. They have increased 65%.

But then you get this little kernel of truth a little bit further down the page.

In the last three years, the percentage of moral waivers for all new enlistments in the four services combined has fallen 3 percent, with spikes in the Army and Air Force.

Oh. So moral waivers really are not up at all, and are declining instead. And the waivers that are increasing are actually medical waivers (we discover over half-way through the story) for conditions that do not particularly decrease military readiness -- high blood pressure, asthma, and ADD (an over-used label for boys acting like boys in too many cases).

And the irony is that the Left often demands that supporters of the war in Iraq sign up for the military as a condition of being allowed to hold an opinion on the matter -- including insisting that we seek waivers of factors that disqualify us from service. Now when there are those actually doing so, they complain that the waivers are being granted for relatively minor issues. And let's not forget that certain left-wing politicians are urging a draft -- which would degrade the readiness and quality of members of the armed forces significantly more than the selective granting of waivers for less-serious disqualifications.

The New York Times -- its motto should be "We only print the news that fits."

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