Outside the Beltway

DC schools superintendent Michelle Rhee has radically transformed the system for the better. Naturally, the teachers unions want her gone.

U.S. forces are still engaged in full-scale counterrrorism operations in Iraq. In what sense are “combat operations” over?

The Navy has fired fourteen skippers this year. Eleven of those were for personal misconduct.

Regular readers know that I’ve long thought we’ve achieved all we’re going to in Afghanistan. But that doesn’t mean that our presence is therefore motivated by secret motives.

The value of education depends on what one means by “education.”

There isn’t much doubt that China is manipulating its currency for competitive advantage. What can be done about it?

Despite constantly hiring more examiners, the patent application backlog is 728,044 and it takes 6 years to get a decision.

David Brooks blames our economic woes on a change from a culture that valued productive work to one of gentility. And Bill Cosby.

Even on a ridiculously easy multiple choice quiz, Americans don’t know the name of the Chief Justice or the Senate Majority Leader. So what?

As much hubris as it takes to think you can be the Leader of the Free World, it takes even more to buck the advice of the Establishment.

Everyone from David Petraeus to Sarah Palin is speaking out against a nutbag pastor’s Koran burning event. While they’re right, they’re emphasizing the wrong message.

Tonight’s topics: The Gallup poll and the vanishing 10-point Republican lead, whether we overreacted to 9/11, Mike Castle and the RINO/DINO problem, income inequality, and the retirement of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

An academic study reveals that police officers with college education are less violent than their peers. But the real story is how violent cops are, period.

Google will now display and adjust search results as you type. This should be a boon to searchers and a terror to website operators, who live at the mercy of Google.

Robert Gates has been a reluctant Secretary of Defense but his impact at the Pentagon has been tremendous.

Most of what passes for conventional wisdom about learning is wrong.

The writer of the infamous “Fonzie Jumps The Shark” episode of Happy Days breaks his silence.

The first ad of the 2012 presidential cycle has aired, by some dentist touting Hillary Clinton. She’s not running. Could she?

How long will we stop annual commemorations on the anniversary of that horrible day?

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas’ new book, AMERICAN TALIBAN: HOW WAR, SEX, SIN, AND POWER BIND JIHADISTS AND THE RADICAL RIGHT, continues a long tradition in political polemics.

NY Post is apparently out to embarrass non-public figure Maria McCormack with its story “Dodge Charger owner upset vehicle crushed by suicidal fall.”

Discovery channel gunman James Lee was shot at 4:48 p.m., because even the SWAT team doesn’t want to fight rush hour traffic

Tonight’s topics: President Obama’s speech, Tony Blair’s book, Glenn Beck’s rally, and the GOP’s steady rise in the polls.

32 Democratic incumbents are running even or behind their Republican challengers in one or more public or private polls. At this point in 2006, when Republicans lost control of Congress, only 11 GOP incumbents were running even or behind.

The president has declared an end to combat operations in Iraq. But soldiers assigned there still draw combat pay.

Four news items and articles about China that have caught my eye.

The airline industry turned a record profit for the 2nd quarter. Don’t expect it to last.

Capitalizing on the buzz from his weekend rally, talk host Glenn Beck launched a new online magazine called The Blaze overnight.

The Fed chair, seemingly oblivious to the fact things are pretty bad already, promises to do something if the economy falters. But he’s about out of arrows in his quiver.

Tonight’s topics: Anything but that damned mosque. Possibilities include: Tuesday’s primaries, the continued economic malaise, and the flooding in Pakistan.

Americans who earn a lot of money disproportionately live in a tiny number of states and are married to other high-earners.

Critics of WikiLeaks have no affirmative proof that the release of tens of thousands of classified documents has gotten anyone killed. The truth is that we’ll likely never know.

Should FOX News, which is obviously pro-Republican, have a front row seat in the White House press room? Of course.

Your Tweets, Facebook wall posts, and FourSquare announcements obviously provide a lot of insights into your life. But so does what you’re not posting.

No, the discipline isn’t having a George Constanza situation. Rather, a job market that has been dismal for decades has gotten worse.

Most people who record television shows skip the commercials. Despite that, TV remains by far the most effective form of advertising.

Financially strapped schools are passing an increasing amount of ordinary costs on to parents.

The United States has promised $150 million in aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan. Should we have?

The webmaster of a local Republican chapter linked a YouTube video that implies Democratic women are ugly.

Manned flight is more than a century old. Why are the airlines still so clueless?

Should universities be able to force students to buy meal plans for the cafeteria? Alabama students are suing to end the practice.

Strippers didn’t attack us on 9/11. Then again, neither did American Muslims.

Tonight’s topics: the Blagojevich verdict, whether lying about military awards should be protected speech, the politics of the Cordoba House project, the coherence or lack thereof of the Obama administration, and whether the United States should be more like Germany.

When professors blog, they send signals to their students about their attitudes. Where do we draw the line between free expression and unprofessional conduct?

Should black people quit using the N-word to set an example for white folk?

Wired proclaims, “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet.” It’s great linkbait but completely wrongheaded.