Which just makes that later date of “official” policy change all the more squirrelly in my mind. *g*

What looked like a bug in Bush/Cheney earliest days was probably a feature…especially if you consider all but one of the U.S. Attorneys later released in 2006-2007 were from states with Enron exposures and Native American lands with FERC right-of-ways.

Which makes it all the more important that you do ask the questions now, so that our own team doesn’t make the same bugs, um, features, if they are truly committed to transparency.

I tend to think Team Obama is still trying to figure out a bunch of stuff on the fly, running as hard as they can while strapped with decrepit technology they’d never tolerate in the real world, and then trying to right the wrongs of last eight years. Not an enviable task, somewhat more challenging than attempting a corporate turnaround with a financially challenged organization.

Re: the Peanut — you might consider instituting a weekly trip to the library and a daily reading period. My kids aren’t allowed on any electronics, from TV to PC to games, from 10am – 6pm each day, and are required to read for at least 1 hour at a minimum. Plus we have a project book, one that I read to them at bedtime several times a week. This all works easily for 9-to-15 year olds, might have to start with a smaller scope for a new first grader, but after several years of this the kids not only expect it but love it. When they were younger it was nap time, but now reading time gives us all a break that’s acceptable to their age group (and if they fall asleep coincidentally, so much the better…).

I think this year I’m going to add a new wrinkle: they must read one foreign news article about a current event overseas each day, before 10am, and they must be prepared to discuss it at dinner. The teenager has been doing something like this for her social studies school work this year; I’m amazed at what she’s gotten out of it, and it might keep my mini-wonk son both prepared and on his toes. His fifth grade class reads CNN Student News every day together in the classroom, and he’s generally better informed about current affairs than his dad is by the time they get home.

Don’t know if the Peanut’s school participates in the Accelerated Reader (AR) program, but this is a chance to get a jump on it if they do. AR books are rated by age appropriateness and complexity of content and assigned points. Many school systems in Michigan use AR as a gauge of children’s reading ability and amount they are reading; our school system requires kids to set a goal each grade period, a set level of points appropriate to their reading level, which they must achieve or exceed as part of their curriculum. I’ve encouraged my kids to read ahead during the summer months, requiring them to read only AR-listed/-rated books during their daily reading time, so that they are better prepared when schools starts. (Intramural activities, even if kept to one per season, can really cut into reading time; better to read ahead just in case.) Link above should provide lists/collections of books which Peanut may be reading in the near-term as a first grader. Good luck keeping that bright little mind and busy hands occupied!

This is tied in with the Alaska legislature corruption — of which Ted Stevens’ son was allegedly involved in taking oil money “gifts” of some kind, if I remember correctly. And, of course, the Stevens’ prosecution itself was a fricking mess.

There are also clean-up issues with the public corruption unit ongoing as well, as fall-out from that case and others. The DOJ was left in an utter mess.