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In related education news, Forbes has an interesting article about Los Angeles accountant and Orthodox Jew Michael Sklar, who argues that a November 1993 IRS ruling that Scientologists can deduct "fixed donations" they paid for religious education means that he should be able to deduct much of his children's religious education bills. Though the article is short, the case will be an interesting one to watch.

"Pop culture is a cantankerous, polymorphous critter," writes Jon Pareles in a New York Times commentary lamenting "moral-panic soundbites" in the U.S. presidential election. "It's just as likely, and perhaps more likely, to be a counterweight, providing feelings that people are missing in their daily lives." So forget the worries about violent video games, misanthropic music, and sex-crazed radio hosts, he suggests. "In 2000, the United States has peace, a humming economy and widespread quiescence; there's no visible enemy, just bland corporate power. And as a balance, pop culture is a thrashing, belligerent mess, where everyday frustration and aggression discharge in a jubilant symbolic rage. It's a strange equilibrium, and applying real-world values might have unintended consequences." Oh, but one more thing, Pareles adds seriously: musicians like Eminem should clean up their homophobic slurs. Somebody could get hurt.

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August (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44