WEEKLY EDITORIAL RECAP

TUESDAY

EDUCATION 'CONSULTANTS'

The school district handed out $12.5 million during the recently concluded academic year on consultants and educational contractors. ...

What, exactly, did taxpayers get in return for all this "expert" advice that cost almost as much as a new elementary school? We'll get an inkling when campus-by-campus academic performance data are released July 23.

But whatever scores are reported, they can't possibly justify the school district's continued splurging on outside counsel when well-paid administrators are taking up space in half a dozen buildings and millions of dollars are spent on positions charged with "curriculum development."

THURSDAY

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

Both the Government Accountability Office and the Environmental Working Group ... recommend in reports released by a congressional subcommittee Wednesday that responsibility for labeling bottled water be shifted from the FDA to the EPA. ...

Green extremists hate bottled water, in part because it tends to come in plastic bottles which are seldom recycled, but especially because it just grates on their nerves to see people selling the stuff for a profit (a $16 billion industry, last year), when the eco-radicals believe water and everything else should be provided free, like on "Star Trek," a dead guy's liberal fantasy in which the "Federation" has gotten rid of money and all the inequalities it represents.

While it's true tap water may be just as safe as bottled water, it seldom tastes as good, because it's chlorinated, and because it wouldn't make economic sense to filter out all the minerals, driving up the cost of stuff that's going to be mostly used for showers and lawn-watering.

Our drinking water is pretty darned safe. Those with concerns can buy filters. What on earth are our congressmen doing ... trying to come up with yet another manufactured problem to solve with yet more pass-along-the-cost regulations?