Traditionally has been a state and local effort.

When Arne Duncan was the head of the Chicago public schools, one of the calls he dreaded most came from a certain federal bureaucracy — the Department of Education. “It wasn’t a call about teaching kids to read,” Duncan recalled. “It was a call about a compliance report or something.” Now Duncan sits atop the Education Department — meaning he’s the one making those calls to school systems across the country, hoping to reshape education and the role of the federal government in what traditionally has been a state and local effort...Link

Is Obama Punking Us?.............

“AUGUST is a challenging time to be president,” said Andrew Card, the former Bush White House chief of staff, as he offered unsolicited advice to his successors in a television interview last week. “I think you have to expect the unexpected.” He should know. Thursday was the eighth anniversary of “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,” the President’s Daily Brief that his boss ignored while on vacation in Crawford. Aug. 29 marks the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s strike on the Louisiana coast, which his boss also ignored while on vacation in Crawford...Link

Favoring White House Plan............

WASHINGTON — The drug industry has authorized its lobbyists to spend as much as $150 million on television commercials supporting President Obama’s health care overhaul, beginning over the August Congressional recess, people briefed on the plans said Saturday...Link

Three more bank failures.........

US authorities have closed three more US regional and local banks, bringing the total of failed US banking institutions to 72 this year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced...Link