Education really is a civil rights issue, and not just for minorities, but for all of us. Lack of proper education is certainly part of what has brought us to this place. Especially when the folks in charge of important institutions appear to be those most lacking in understanding of basic concepts, e.g., civics.

In fact, as urgent as the health care issue is-- and in need of some kind of a fix desperately soon-- a proper education is in most ways even more important, and would probably make for both better health care solutions and better-informed health consumers.

I was working the polls last election and one of the volunteers on the other side was a young man, a lawyer, working in the county prosecutor's office. Well, he had more degrees than I do, but still did not know even the basic numbers of how many congressional representatives and how many senators were up for election that cycle. At some point, he seemed to realize he had missed out on something, and for that I give him credit. But obviously, something is wrong with that picture.

Doesn't anyone get to take a basic civics course any more? I have an 11-yr-old grandson, and I'm going to be asking him if he's getting any of this in school, and if he's not, then I'm going to fill in some blanks personally.

Off topic (but not really)...

I was really sorry to hear this morning of Kurt Vonnegut's passing. What a loss for all of us.

for the quotes and links, and to ktwdawk for the mention of Marcus Aurelius...

Anyone wishing to find Meditations immediately-- without having to make a retail visit-- can find it online, too:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2680

The senate and the house have continued to try to put the brakes on GWB's war on our constitution, investigating the multitude of interwoven scandals that are finally becoming unravelled. They are doing exactly what they were elected to do, despite the WH's stonewalling. Meanwhile...

...the media (both BIG and small) have been enjoying the brouhaha over Imus, who has just experienced the effect of current market forces on his own employment. (Other market forces are pretty volatile right now, too.) Imus has NOT experienced any government intervention by any of Karl Rove's minions trying: to confine him to a free speech zone, or to mess with a regulator who could censure Imus for his speech (as is the FCC's wont), or to detain him without benefit of a lawyer in some undisclosed location. His (personal) civil rights have not been compromised one iota.

And whether or not Imus should have been fired really should no longer be the point for his apologists, since they have been oh so quick to say that the Rutgers team should just get over it and move on. Imus's posse doesn't really care about the niceties of public discourse, or what is best for the public weal, just who wins and who loses. Who is up and who is down. Substance? Who needs it? (They just want to dish about the horse race.) Well, I think that it has now happened. The Rutgers team has moved on, and lots of commenters (and Joan Walsh, too), are also ready to move on.

Now, it's time for Imus's posse to get over it and move on. Especially... all of those elite pundits and politicians who have profited by shilling their books on his show, looking the other way when he (or his producer, for example) would let something foul fly out over the air waves, as he broke all of his previous promises to clean up his show's format.

Surprisingly, it's taken just over a week to process Imus's epithet, the media's coverage of it, etc., etc., etc., and for NBC and CBS to make their decisions (based on whatever criteria they decided to use). A week or 10 days seems like an appropriate amount of time for such an intense public debate on Imus, if not on all of the related issues.

Interesting isn't it, how the public has finally become fed up with Imus's broken promises, just about the same time they have also become completely fed up with the promise-breaker-in-chief's delusions? Let's see... both multimillionaires, w/ cowboy hats (only Imus has cattle), thin-skinned and defensive about themselves, but all too willing to make a vulgar joke at someone else's expense, usually someone with less power. I could go on, but why bother? This particular persona has finally worn out its welcome.

I sense a sea-change...