Entries for August 24, 2006

Last night I attended a screening of the first half of The Path to 9/11 a film that will be broadcast by ABC in two three-hour segments on September 10 and 11. Two and one-half hours is a long time to sit still watching a film, but this one was gripping and tension-filled and visually dazzling.

Here is my Creators Syndicate column for this week, which one frequent E-mail correspondent described as "stunning" and "a little Ann Coultery" and another described as "terrific." You might want to, in the old phrase, read the whole thing. I report and you decide.

Fascinating article in yesterday's Washington Post by Lori Montgomery and my longtime friend Jay Mathews, headlined "The Future of D.C. Public Schools: Traditional or Charter Education?" Charter schools are public schools that are run autonomously by private groups, free from the bureaucratic rules and procedures that govern public schools. As Montgomery and Mathews point out, limited test results suggest that D.C. charter schools perform better than public schools but well below national averages. Over the past decade 12 charter schools have been closed for various reasons; two more are scheduled to open in the coming school year. Charter school students are chosen by lottery from applicants, of whom there apparently are always more than the places to be filled; many public schools, in contrast, attract fewer kids than they can hold.