A Focus on Bogus

Read Anna Quindlen's Newsweek column here about the bogus nature of Bush's aid to cities and what affect it's having, in this example, on libraries. Snippet:

The linchpin of the president’s education agenda, for instance, which he developed before terrorists made it possible for his administration to dispense with domestic policy—and civil liberties—was something with the catchy slogan “Leave No Child Behind.” It is a program heavy on performance standards that may as well be called “Leave No Child Untested.” But the states have been picking up most of the added costs for the new mandates. Thus your state and local taxes are soaring, and your alleged tax cut merely moved from beneath one government walnut to another. You’ll get a peek, and then it will disappear.
Step right up to the greatest show on earth. See a lady sawed in half—whoops, it’s the librarian! The administration says it’s providing more help for libraries, but towns have to cut library hours to afford police officers, some required by Homeland Security provisions for which the Feds promised reimbursement, now long overdue. So the First Lady does television spots with Elmo the Muppet about the importance of reading, but kids whose parents can’t afford to buy the newest “Harry Potter” will just have to lump it because the library can’t afford to buy new books.