By JOHN M. CRISP, Scripps Howard News Service

This is a good time for thinking about higher education in our country, particularly against the backdrop of the faces of the 130 freshmen who filed into my five composition classes last week on the first day of fall semester.

Russia's invasion of Georgia coincided with my reading of a couple of books that turned out to be instructive about that event: "When Presidents Lie," by Eric Alterman; and National Book Award winner Tim Weiner's "Legacy of Ashes," a history of the Central Intelligence Agency.

A successful surge in Iraq is welcome news, but legislators, the media, and average Americans should exercise caution and some skepticism before accepting any news about Iraq that they're already eager to hear.

I'd considered titling this column with the easy and obvious Shakespearean variation "To Drill or Not to Drill." But a quick Google search reveals that more than 23,000 incarnations of that phrase are already in use: the notion of drilling for more domestic petroleum is in the air.

Senator John McCain received a remarkable endorsement for his presidential candidacy recently, as reported in an Associated Press story by Margie Mason.

Americans appreciate an uncomplicated narrative, so we find an immediate appeal in a simple storyline like "The surge is working." However, the surge may not be working all that well for the families of the 29 American soldiers who were killed there in June. The previous month "only" 19 Americans died.

Presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's decision to turn down public campaign financing is disappointing to many Americans who favor campaign-finance reform. But does it make him a hypocrite?

I'd intended to spend only one night in Toulouse, in southern France. But when I tried to buy a train ticket to Madrid on the evening of my arrival, I discovered that the following day was dedicated to a general strike. Trains, buses, and even many airlines were taking the day off. This happened to be the same day that the price of oil hit $135 per barrel.

The adjective "quixotic" must have been invented for the idealists who would like to rid the world of automobiles. The word, which we owe to the fictitious knight-errant Don Quixote, usually implies the impractical, or even foolish or unbalanced, pursuit of an idealistic and romantic cause.

Does anyone doubt that the United States would respond militarily to an attack on Israel by Iran? Even knee-jerk doves know that such an attack could not be allowed to pass unanswered. Certainly Iran knows it.