Buying Votes:

Just how corrupt is the U.S. Government? Eric Lipton at The New York Times reports on the scam many congressmen use to sell their influence: they set up charities that seek donations from businesses and others seeking to influence their votes, then they vote to grant themselves special dispensations to allow exceptions in congressional ethics rules. Is it any wonder that Republicans preach low taxes, stating that charities will do the jobs we expect government to do?


The School Reform Boondoggle:

Robert Samuelson addresses the failure of school reform in today's Washington Post. Samuelson points out that although much has been tried since 1971, nothing has proven effective, regardless of which political party's proposals have been tried. He points out the fallacy of placing a great teacher in every classroom. As my high school senior English teacher pointed out to me many years ago, there are no great teachers, just great students.