The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J., on ethics in Congress (January 10):

One would think Newt Gingrich lecturing Republicans about ethics in government would be like race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. talking to a driver's ed class about speed limits. Yet it is true that, like Earnhardt, Gingrich knows his subject.

The former House speaker, who was fined $300,000 for violating House ethics rules, spoke out last week after it became known that freewheeling lobbyist Jack Abramoff would plead guilty to charges in Washington and Florida. Gingrich came to power by accusing Democrats of being arrogant and corrupt.

Specifically, Gingrich thundered that "there can't be a lobbying scandal if there aren't members of Congress willing to be bought". The GOP, he said, must clean up its act.

Over the weekend, Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay bowed to pressure from within the GOP and resigned his position, which he previously had agreed to relinquish only temporarily while he dealt with his own problems, including a conspiracy indictment tied to congressional redistricting in Texas and now his relationship with Abramoff.

It is about time that DeLay began to see beyond his own ambition. Two years ago, the House ethics committee admonished him to "temper your future actions". In return, the GOP members of the committee were removed in favour of party loyalists and the committee's staff lawyers were fired. The newly constituted committee has yet to act on numerous allegations of ethics violations during the current session.

That's arrogance. And it engenders corruption.

The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarkesville, Tennessee, on science and education (January 10):

Throughout his adult life — as University of Tennessee president, state governor, US Secretary of Education — Sen. Lamar Alexander has been a crusader on behalf of improving education. Now, he's sounding the alarm that the United States must concentrate more on math, science and engineering in education.

Alexander spoke to a gathering of higher education officials at "A National Dialogue: The Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education" in Nashville. It was one in a series of meetings across the country as part of a Bush administration initiative.

During his talk with the commission, Alexander cited a 20-point recommendation from the National Academy of Science's "Augustine Report." Among its major suggestions are the recruitment of 10,000 new science and math teachers, increased federal funding for basic research in the physical sciences by ten percent a year for seven years and research and development tax credits for US companies so that they keep their jobs here rather than move them overseas.

The senator would like President Bush to focus on math, science and technology in his State of the Union address and for his remaining three years in office and urged the commission to recommend that to him.

The world is in the midst of a science and technology age. The nations that succeed are those that will prepare their young people to find ways to improve on existing systems and to innovate so that new ones are created.