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What about poor kids? | 'A crazy idea that the U.S. can educate everyone' COMMENTARY A Boston hearing by a Federal commission on higher education probably cost the equivalent of two Pell grants. Wick Sloane questions whether it was worth it. 
The overseas press | European, Mid-East news media focus on U.S.-Iran talks COMMENTARY Caution, skepticism, uncertainty prevail. ‘A collision of hardened egos,’ says a Lebanese newspaper. And there is the theme that this time, unlike with Iraq, the U.S. can’t ignore the rest of the world.
For the U.S., Iraq is more devastating | Iraq through the prism of Vietnam COMMENTARY Those who say Iraq is nothing like Vietnam have another guess coming, says retired Gen. William Odom. He lists striking similarities and asserts that only after it pulls out of Iraq can the U.S. hope for international support to deal with anti-Western forces.
The overseas press | Bush drew mostly harsh reviews in India COMMENTARY Editorials, columns tended to be highly personal and unfavorable to Bush in comparing him to earlier presidential visitors Eisenhower, Bush Sr., and Clinton. A theme: 'Bush go home.'
Readership v. reach | Where's Leo Bogart when we need him? COMMENTARY Phil Meyer finds problems with reports of really high newspaper circulation for some newspapers and offers a little history lesson, including how sociologist and newspaper analyst Bogart came up with the ‘read yesterday’ measure.
Capital gains change sought | Higher profits, lower costs: to what end? COMMENTARY Lawrence E. Mitchell and Geneva Overholser locate the news industry’s staff cuts, smaller news holes and lessened air time for news as part of a larger, dismal portrait of the American economy: the result of a maximum-profit culture.
John Burke from Paris | Overseas reaction: Disgust over Abu Ghraib, disbelief over Guantanamo COMMENTARY Says an Arab paper: “The US has to be judged by its own standards. That is what is so damaging about Guantanamo. It makes the US out to be dishonest. It is ‘do as I say’ not ‘do as I do.’”
Letter from Paris | Elsewhere, surprise and shock at the ‘addicted to oil’ phrase COMMENTARY Bush astonished Europeans but his remarks in the State of the Union were widely seen as political and not indicative of any change in his administration’s energy policies. Here’s what some in the international press had to say.
Eliminate corrupting incentives | Lobbying reform – another approach COMMENTARY The current disclosure act, dating to 1995, is designed to hide, not expose lobbying activity. It exempts many individuals and organizations. For starters, Martin Lobel writes, lobbying reform must disclose ‘who is doing what to whom.’
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