Flush with his lack of success with “No Child Left Behind”, Bush announced yesterday that he’s launching a similar program for High Schools, which includes $1.5B he doesn’t have to fund programs for students performing below grade level. It’s touching that he wants to help his peer group, but it’s not remotely clear that programs like these are really making a difference in the overall performance of our students.

In other news, Indonesia wants all the foreign military who are there to provide tsunami relief to get out of their country by March – sooner would be better. They have also insisted that our soldiers stay on their ships when not working and are not allowed to be armed. The White House is trying to get to the bottom of this, and all I can wonder is, why? If our help is so damned intrusive, let them do it themselves. I was always taught that when you beg for help or accept volunteers you lose a lot of control over the form that help takes. If you want control, do it yourself or hire the people. We were bullied for not doing enough, and now we’re taking grief for not doing it right? Nice…