How low can you go

“The real question for Republicans in Washington is how low can you go, because we are approaching a level of ridiculousness,” said (Republican strategist Scott) Reed, sounding exasperated in an interview on Tuesday morning. “You can’t make this stuff up. And the impact this is having on the grass-roots around the country is devastating. Republicans think the governing class in Washington are a bunch of buffoons who have total disregard for the principles of the party, the law of the land and the future of the country.”—Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times

John Young: Minoring in poverty at Baylor

A new program at Baylor University wants students to know the poverty that defines whole neighborhoods and whole generations. It’s the kind of poverty which, more than Americans would like to believe, helps define this land of opportunity.

“By most measures this country (USA) is among the poorest developed nations in the world” — Harlan Beckley, founder and director, Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capacity, Washington and Lee University