As reported previously, the Italian oil company ENI has reached an agreement with the Libyan rebels that will allow it to reopen its oil and natural gas operations in Libya. However, it hasn’t cornered the Libyan market: the latest reports from France indicate that French oil firms have been granted access to 35% of the Libyan oil market.
No wonder President Nicolas Sarkozy is smiling in those photos!
In other news, 70% of the parents who took advantage of the new school voucher program in Indiana have chosen to send their children to private schools, mostly Catholic institutions. Opponents of the program say this violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.
Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Diana West, DS, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JP, Kitman, McR, Thom Jefferson, Van Grungy, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Opponents of the program say this violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
Okay, so, parental discretion of where their tax money goes for their child’s education (via their choice of public versus private) is unconstitutional…
Maybe we need to look at the constitutionality of mandatory schooling laws?
Maybe we should have no public schools, and let the local communities figure that out.
When this nation was founded, we had no public schooling system. It was all private, and nothing in our constitution or founding documents suggests it is the government’s job to educate everyone.
Our education system began with church organizations building schools for their local populations… it is that parochial model which the government eventually co-opted as the current mandatory model.
And now… we are all bent out of shape because parents prefer returning to the parochial system…
… what does this say about parent’s views of public education? very condemning.