This week, Nation contributor William Greider asked “Why Don’t White-Collar Criminals Get Equal Time?” Commenter DarthChris67 had one possible answer. 

darthchris67: 

One of the major problems with white collar criminals is that most of them come from families where they are not necessarily shown the value of work.  It is a culture of dependence, often spanning many generations and their entire peer group.  One solution would be to put these students to work while they are in school, possibly as janitors.  This would allow the schools to hire just one "head" janitor while the students cleaned up, and would thus learn the value of hard, honest work.  This should help them break out of their cycle of dependence and cut down on their propensity for criminal activity. I would like to thank the recent candidacy of Newt Gingrich for his insight and helpful solution to the problem.thenation.com

Also this week, Professor Koritha Mitchell put Mychal Denzel Smith’s “Michelle, Beyoncé and the Fruitless Politics of Respectability” to good use. 

Used @mychalsmith’s @thenation piece re: women’s respectability to discuss critical thinking despite dominant ideologies. Good classes!Koritha Mitchell

Commenting on Nona Willis Aronowitz’s “Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and the Power of Being an Ally,” Jack Barker shared his own experience with Goodman. 

Jack Barker: 

Andy Goodman was a dorm-friend of mine at Miami University.  I sold him my first banjo for $10, when I  bought my second one.  I thought everybody had forgotten about them; Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney.  What happened to them changed my life forever, and completely.  It opened my eyes to what my country really was, and within four months, I left the country for 20 years. Viet Nam grew and grew, RFK & MLK were murdered, and we got Nixon and all his slimy mess.  On the other side of the Atlantic, I was exposed to countries that cared for their people; good schools, transportation and hospitals.  They also had/have a generalized horror of American society, and its propensity for violence-first.  Sometimes I wonder why I ever came back. Not that I needed it, but thanks for the reminder of the courage of those gentle young men.thenation.com

Finally, our readers had a lot to say on the United States Postal Service’s announcement that they would cut Saturday service, as well as John Nichols’s take on it. 

@thenation Rural areas receive poor service from cell phone companies. Privatize Post Office & rural areas will receive poor mail service.Greenspaceguy

Muser: 

I do understand the slippery slope of austerity measures, but I don’t understand how most people are going to be hurt much by getting Saturday’s mail on Monday.  It will slow down some businesses a little bit.  But hurting the elderly?  How?  (Social Security is direct deposit now.) That said, surely we all know the USPS problem is nothing more than under-pricing its "standard" (junk) mail rates for about four decades now. But, hey, the business community gets something when it pays lobbyists. One would think outfits like UPS and Fedex would JUMP for the chance to stuff grocery flyers, cable ads and all those (used-to-be) refinancing offers into every mailbox in the country. No? Wonder why? Because no one can do it for the cheap prices the post office has given to "business".thenation.com

Chris Cerrone: 

The same false failing narrative is being used to harm and privatize public schools as well.thenation.com

AKLady1983: 

The USPS is not causing debt. Congress wants to destroy a service many American depend upon for their medicine, news, even food. Congress has required the USPS to fund future retirement benefits for the next 75 years — retirement for employees that do not yet exist and may never exist. Thus, the USPS is actually 0operating at what would be a sizable proofit in the private sector. No private secotor company prefunds retirement, especially not for employees who do not exist. None of the private delivery services, such as UPS and FedEx deliver to rural addresses. Rural individuals depend upon the USPS for their very life – medicine, food and every other item that can possibly be mailed. That is especially true for places like rural Alaska, and the American island territories.thenation.com