A Pair of Op-Ed Picks

From the WaPo, Jamie Gorelick's take on news that Justice Department officials screened applicants for conservative tendancies (and favored them). One GR-based US attorney believes she was fired as a result. Why does this matter?

"(A lawyer's) ability to give that assurance has hinged on both the public perception -- and reality -- that the career assistant U.S. attorneys, line prosecutors and lawyers who work at the department are picked on their merits and proceed without regard to politics."

And from David Brooks of the NY Times, why education policies should be a focus of the November election. Key quote:

"The skills slowdown is the biggest issue facing the country. Rising gas prices are bound to dominate the election because voters are slapped in the face with them every time they visit the pump.But this slow-moving problem, more than any other, will shape the destiny of the nation."

He refers to education as "human capital policies." Nice.