WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Where's Cathie Black? Village Academy wants to know.

A fig leaf

"This compromise is not a compromise at all, but a very transparent and flimsy fig leaf that will allow Ms. Black to be in charge despite a complete lack of qualifications for the job." (Mona Davids, President of the New York Charter Parents Association)

FBI raids hedge-fund operators

It's another shadow cast over an industry that despite frequent scandals, bailouts and complicity in the collapse of the credit markets, still has enough credibility on Capitol Hill to avoid a real crackdown. Campaign contributions buy respect where it counts. (Sun-Times business columnist David Roeder)

How DFER got started

Hedge-fund Republicrats like Whitney Tilson hooked up with billionaire right-wing yahoos like Wal-Mart's John Walton. Then they used big bucks to lobby, influence, and win over Democrats and Arne Duncan.

The main obstacle to education reform was moving the Democratic party, and it had to be Democrats who did it, it had to be an inside job. (DFER Watch)

Frank Rich

Now corporations of all kinds can buy more of Washington than before, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and to the rise of outside “nonprofit groups” that can legally front for those who prefer to donate anonymously. (Still The Best Congress Money Can Buy--NYT)

Bob Herbert 

A stark example of the potential for real conflict is being played out in New York City, where the multibillionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has selected a glittering example of the American aristocracy to be the city’s schools chancellor. Cathleen Black, chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, has a reputation as a crackerjack corporate executive but absolutely no background in education. (Winning the Class War--NYT)

Ariana Huffington

"When we have two-thirds of Americans right now who expect their children to be worse off than they are, when we have America ranked number ten in upward mobility - behind France and Scandinavia countries and Spain - when we have 25 percent of young people out of work and 27 million people unemployed or underemployed, we know there is something fundamentally wrong.  (Public Anger Is Beyond Left or Right--CBS)