. . .some Republicans, like Representative Thomas M. Davis III of Virginia, who was chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee when Mr. Bush ran for election in 2000, were furious with Mr. Bush for putting them in such a difficult spot on children’s health. “He’s not going to get his way on this,” said Mr. Davis, who voted to override the veto and predicted that Mr. Bush would ultimately be forced to sign a measure similar to the one he rejected.

“You can’t build a reputation,” Henry Ford once said, “on what you are going to do.” And when it comes to raising graduation standards, Virginia is building quite a reputation.

Tomorrow (at an absolutely ungodly hour), I am headed off to the Southern Regional Education Board’s Legislative Conference. This nonprofit, nonpartisan organization works with leaders and policy-makers in 16 Southern states to improve education.

One of the key topics at the conference will be the results of the accountability movement of the 1990s. Virginia, like many other states, raised standards for what students graduating from high school needed to know and be able to do.

In the beginning, states talked tough. They raised graduation requirements. They instituted state tests that students had to pass to graduate.

But when the time came for those new standards to kick in, many states backed off. They lowered their expectations for students. Or they watched their graduation rates slide.

Except Virginia. Here, despite rigorous new standards (every high school graduate now has to complete math through at least Algebra I, for example), graduation rates have actually increased slightly.

How did we do that? Much of the credit goes to local schools and teachers. They have worked very hard to prepare all students.

But the state has done its share. Gov. Warner’s Project Graduation is cited by SREB as one of the national model programs. Funded by the General Assembly to the tune of more than $8 million a year, this initiative allows schools to identify students who are at risk of not graduating. Then they are enrolled in special academies that may meet before or after school, during the summer, or on Saturdays.

As a result, Virginia’s graduation rate has held steady. In 1997, before any of the rigorous standards were imposed, 94.5 percent of high school seniors graduated. Today, 94.7 percent of seniors graduate—and they do it after taking tougher math, English, and other academic courses.

 This is a success story that all Virginians can be proud of. Over the years, the State Board of Education under both Republican and Democratic governors has held to a clear vision. Today, people from all across the country are taking notice.

“I don’t know about you, but I think American children who need medical care should get it, period. Even if you think adults have made bad choices — a baseless smear in the case of the Frosts, but put that on one side — only a truly vicious political movement would respond by punishing their injured children.”

There’s a fascinating story in today’s WaPo on the secret World War II interrogation site at Fort Hunt. The site, located in the heart of my district, is a popular picnic site today. But during the War, it was a place where a small group of Americans pried German war secrets out of POWs–without harsh interrogation techniques. But because the installation was a secret, most of the veterans never were able to tell their families about the work they did to shorten the war.

This story, combined with Ken Burns’ marvelous series, The War, come at an important time. World War II veterans, truly the Greatest Generation, are dying at the rate of 1100 a day. They were mostly not given to talking much about their experiences. Share this Post story with your parent/grandparent and see what memories it brings to the surface.

Fifty years ago today the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite into orbit, forcing a generation of humanities brains like mine to endure all those incomprehensible math and science courses.

Groundhog Day, Virginia Style: Suddenly it’s 2005 again.

Take a look at PC World’s list of “The 10 Funniest Sites on the Internet”. I had visited “The Institute of Official Cheer” previously, but “Mullets Galore” was a new experience.

Vivian Paige, one of the most thoughtful bloggers anywhere, posts about what happened on her blog this week.

It’s a sad and sorry tale. Her conclusion: “So it is a sad state of affairs in America today, one in which blacks and whites talk past each other instead of to each other. It is a sad state of affairs when people make assumptions about a person’s beliefs simply on the basis of race. And it is a sad state of affairs when people make excuses for injustice.”

We couldn’t say it better ourselves.

. . . Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day.

This time.