Speaking of empathy...

I really don't understand why this issue is not drawing more attention from liberal bloggers who care about the impact on the ground to real people's lives.

It involves the futures of children, choice, stability, good social research about what works and proves successful in the long run... so why no mainstream coverage of the elimination of the Opportunity Scholarships in DC, or outcry at the costs of dreams deferred?

This afternoon, more than 1,000 students, parents, and concerned citizens gathered across from city hall to rally in support of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. A number of prominent D.C. leaders spoke, including former mayor Anthony Williams and former councilmember Kevin Chavous. But the most moving speeches were from the parents and students participating in the scholarship program. High-school student Carlos Battle spoke about how he was personally working to redefine the image of the black teen in Washington, D.C. — and how the Opportunity Scholarship program was giving him a chance to fulfill his dream. A father of a scholarship student pointed out the hypocrisy of Congress bailing out failing corporations but taking scholarships away from D.C. students.

C'mon people, let's come together and do the right thing so schoolkids who presumably are doing their jobs and getting their work done don't get the idea that their futures are being mortgaged, their own schooling plans scuttled, based purely on the grownup's partisan politics. We really can do better by them, right?