Number one

Multiple Choice:  "FOIA Request Elicits Greetings and Blank Pages."

A)  A headline from an Ed Week article by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo about the Department of Education's response to a Freedom of Information Act request regarding a federal commission on reading research.

or

B)  A headline from the Onion. 

or 

C)  Alexander Russo, being funny. 

It's A.  Of course. Partial credit for C since the headline was featured in Russo's Big Stories of the Day.

Number two

March 20, 2008, letter from U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to chief state school officers regarding her recent announcement of a differentiated accountability pilot program:

"The differentiated accountability model is designed to result in an increased number of students participating, in the aggregate, in public school choice and supplemental educational services (SES) at the state level, even if the number of students eligible for these options decreases."

March 25, 2008, headline on USA Today article by Greg Toppo: "Free tutoring failing to help needy kids."

So, why would the Department of Ed or any Bush administration agency think the Freedom of Information Act had something to do with providing information? And why wouldn't the Department insist on more SES for kids, even though, uh, it doesn't work?