ides of August

Aug. 15 — The Bush administration is preparing to declare that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is a foreign terrorist organization, senior administration officials said Tuesday. …According to European diplomats, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned of the move in recent conversations with European counterparts, saying that a delay in efforts to win approval from the United Nations Security Council for further economic sanctions on Iran was leaving the administration with little choice but unilateral action. NYT A1—it worked so well with Iraq…

--During his news conference on Thursday, President Bush addressed the Iranian people directly. “My message to the Iranian people is, ‘You can do better than this current government,’ ” Mr. Bush said. “ ‘You don’t have to be isolated. You don’t have to be in a position where you can’t realize your full economic potential.’ –NYT A8-- GWB reading remarks from Iran to USA...

-- Mr. Romney said in part that “one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected,” NYT A15—GOP put their kids on the line

--“What have all the great school systems of the world got in common?” he said, ticking off four systems that he said deserved to be called great, in Finland, Singapore, South Korea and Alberta, Canada. “Four systems, three continents — what do they have in common? “They all select their teachers from the top third of their college graduates, whereas the U.S. selects its teachers from the bottom third of graduates. This is one of the big challenges for the U.S. education system: NYT A21—no childs left behind

--the Bush administration, which disdains America’s regulatory system, has cut personnel and squeezed budgets at both the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Aafety Commission, impairing their ability to monitor the quality of products made in China, or, indeed, anywhere else NYT A24 leave Iraq, New Orleans, Iran, and GOP children to private enterprise

--A replica of a Viking ship believed to have been built in 1042 sailed triumphantly into Dublin after retracing the 1000 mile path of the fleets of Norsemen who invaded Ireland more than a millennium ago NYT A7—hard job civilizing the Irish, but somebody had to do it…