The More Things Change...

When someone goes on vacation, or even moves to another place, there often seems to be some kind of strange mental hangover that one experiences. It's an illogical kind of mental disconnect that says, "Even though I know the rest of the world continues when I'm not there, upon my return, things should be exactly how and where I saw them last."

It's a process we've all been through as we've travelled this past week, and it's one we're certain you've also likely experienced in your life.

Of course, things do keep moving on in other corners of the world, even while we're away. The Gadhafi regime fell last week (though Gadhafi himself is still on the loose), and the Washington Monument did not (contrary to rumors reported through certain less-than-accurate media outlets). Hurricane Irene swamped the East Coast, and her effects could last for weeks. There was even an earthquake in Washington, DC - ironically centered in the congressional district of Rep. Eric Cantor, who earlier this year said we didn't need to fully fund the U.S. Geological Survey, as there are places in the U.S. that don't have earthquakes. Like the District of Columbia.

Sadly, even while we were away, certain politicians couldn't stop digging themselves deeper political holes - including Nebraska's Attorney General, Jon Bruning.

Bruning, the Republican front-runner likely to challenge Sen. Ben Nelson for Nebraska's U.S. Senate seat in 2012 had a particularly lousy time of it last week, all self-induced.

First, it was revealed that Mr. Bruning, often one to brag about his small town, Cornhusker work ethic, has apparently been making himself a multi-millionaire while Nebraskans pay him $95,000 a year to be the top law enforcement official in the state. It's alleged that he's only a part-time Attorney-General on full pay, while enthusiastically pursuing his personal business interests. It was also revealed that Bruning is anything but fiscally responsible, as his campaign is heavily in debt.

His questionable behavior doesn't end there.

Four years ago, student loan company Nelnet reached a million dollar legal settlement with Attorney-General Bruning and the state of Nebraska over improper and questionably legal conduct. Bruning, however, relieved Nelnet of its obligation to pay a penalty, since Nelnet made a similar deal with the state of New York. Bruning stopped defending that decision later, after being accused of favoritism toward Nelnet.

This past week, it was discovered that Bruning and two top Nelnet executives purchased a $675,000 lake house together just a year after the earlier controversy had blown over.

We've warned Mr. Bruning on these pages more than once, that the story his actions have been stringing together has not been a tale likely to convince voters of his fitness to be a U.S. Senator.

We had thought that when we left for a week of vacation, since the President was on a working vacation, and Congress was in recess (and getting yelled at back home), the Supreme Court was on break, and the astroturf groups took this August off from disrupting Americans, there wouldn't likely be any political news for us to miss covering. Apparently, we were wrong.

Maybe Mr. Bruning had a feeling similar to what we experienced on our respective vacations - a feeling that if no one said anything, maybe his somewhat smelly actions wouldn't be noticed. Just as we described before, it's as though he thought if he left his actions alone, nothing would change and his image would remain relatively clean.

We hate to tell you, Mr. Attorney General, but not even elected officials are immune to the effects of time. Things change, even when you're not around.

This time, that includes your reputation.

Friday Funday: On The Road Again...

As our regular readers know, our staff members tend to get around the United States a bit. We have conferences, presentations, and other business to attend to and we usually take our work with us. From DC to Lincoln to Florida, and a whole host of other places, the three of us do a surprising bit of travel, and still deliver a solid media product to you each weekday.

Being a member of the media is demanding work, as many of you know - since many of you also work in that profession. We have more than a few cartoonists, writers, broadcasters and other members of the American national media who follow our work. Quite a few politicians and other politicos who interact with the media are also on our mailing list - and we know you too, see how hard we work.

Some of you even use our work to give you a starting point for the next 24-hour news cycle.

We know this, and don't mind. Frankly, people who toil in the media and communications fields know we sometimes borrow ideas from one another - or at least, appear to. When the facts all point in the same direction, and great minds all think alike, it's inevitable that some of us arrive at similar conclusions.

For the next week, though, you'll have to make those conclusions without our participation, as our entire staff is going on vacation.

We're taking some time away from the news because... we can.

As we noted earlier this week, the astroturf groups appear to have taken the month off, thank goodness. With the President taking a vacation, and Congress still in the middle of their five week recess, we weren't sure when we'd get another chance to take some R&R for ourselves.

When we get back, we know the coming months will be filled with long days, long nights, stacks of work, and tough decisions - and that's just in our day jobs, not just what we do for you here at The Daily Felltoon.

We know you might be feeling a bit lost while we're gone - so we hope you'll read the work of a few of our colleagues to keep yourself well-informed and occupied while we're away. As always, we hope you read at least two newspapers daily, including the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, and Wall Street Journal. For foreign news, keep up with the BBC and Aljazerra. We also hope you'll keep checking out the work of Nate Silver and the fine folks at FiveThirtyEight.com. Dave Weigel of Slate also usually has some good work, and Greg Sargent, Adam Sewer, and the gang the Plum Line are often spot on.

Make sure you read your local and regional newspapers too; not everything is a national issue, after all.

For your daily cartoon fix, we hope the fine work of Jeff Koterba, Wiley Miller, R.C. Harvey, and a host of other great cartoonists from the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' website will keep you chuckling and thinking while we're away.

Take hope, though; while you won't be able to get your Daily Felltoon fix via the usual email channels, you can still access Paul's daily editorial cartoon view of the world at the website of his syndicator, www.artizans.com - or even easier at his page on the AAEC website.

It's always good for people to take some time for themselves, whenever that rare opportunity comes up.

We plan to make every moment count - and we look forward to being back with you on August 29th.

Somehow, we have a feeling there will be plenty to share with you upon our return.

School Supplies: What You May Have Missed

As the month of August speeds towards Labor Day weekend, schools across the country, from elementary to college, are opening their doors again, to give students from every kind of neighborhood another shot at learning something new.

In some states, there is already reason for some hope, even in the face of brutal budget and personnel cuts facing educators everywhere. Nebraska and Iowa both got their ACT test results back yesterday, and students from both states, on average, do better than kids in other states. Those scores are to be commended - but they're not the sole measure of the quality of education in each state, nor should they be.

Paul has taught on both the high school and college level, we each have family members who are or have been teachers, and each of us has taught certain subjects individually - what's commonly known as tutoring. More than many, we understand that school is about far more than just tests.

A growing number of Americans seem to be finally beginning to comprehend the difficulties facing administrators, school boards, teachers and students these days - including increasing acts of violence, by both students and teachers. Still, too many Americans fall back on the tired, old standby complaints when they talk about the problems in education. "It's those damn teachers unions," or "Public schools just can't compete these days," are arguments we all hear regularly, from across the country.

Sadly, the kind of comment we hear hear least, is a heartfelt "Thanks" to teachers and support staff.

When many of us went to school, the economics of the country were far different. Households where both parents worked were not the norm. Single-parent households were rare. Effective wages were much higher, manners and civility were much more the norm- and all of these things helped reduce what we expected schools to deal with at all levels.

For most of us, it's always been more than just reading, 'riting and  'rithmatic. These days, it's much, MUCH more. Now, it's not just reading - it's reading in multiple languages. Writing includes a healthy dose of technology - and often includes writing computer code, as well as "normal" languages. And arithmetic - math - is algebra and geometry, beginning in elementary school. Not to mention that the computer teacher may also double as the art teacher, and perhaps teaches english, to boot - if the kids are lucky. And don't forget world history, American history, and modern history all taught by the same person, with a couple of other subjects thrown in.

Most teachers are also coaches - or they're the faculty advisor (meaning 'coach by another name') for some other activity that used to be considered "extracurricular". If kids want to get beyond just high school, everything from shop to home ec, from football to theatre has become "extracurricular" these days.

This, of course, has teachers and administrators everywhere - in public and private schools alike -continuing to operate from smaller and smaller budgets. This increasingly means teachers have to work another job, on top of their chosen profession, to make ends meet for their families.

That says nothing for the paperwork and lesson plans most of them take home every day, as they always have.

The supplies that we ask that you bring to school this year, whether you're a student, parent, teacher, administrator - or legislator looking at education budgets - are simple.

Serious respect; significant patience; and a real understanding of what our teachers face every day in this economy, just to do their jobs.

No one goes into teaching these days for either the money or job security. Neither exists much anymore. If someone is there, teaching your children - or you - they're there because they've got a passion for it. As former teacher and cartoonist - and our editor-in-chief - Paul Fell has often said: "teaching just gets in your blood".

We doubt most Americans can say the same about their job.